For Better Or For Worse
by EvilRegalGleek
Summary: Extended four chapter prologue to my new story, "Worlds Collide", a sequel to "Better Left Unspoken". How Finn, Rachel, Lily, Kurt, and Blaine all come to live their life shown in the epilogue of "Better Left Unspoken" after 2011 Nationals. I don't own any of these characters except for Lily and Finchel's kids.
1. Chapter 1

Summer Before Senior Year

"Lily, this is a ball," said Rachel. "Can you say 'ball'?"

"Fa!" said Lily. Then she looked up at Rachel and grinned as if expecting applause.

"Give it up, Rachel," said Kurt, who was laying on the couch in the Hudson-Hummel living room watching TV while Rachel and Lily played on the floor. "You are not going to teach Lily how to talk in the time it takes Finn to get back."

Rachel ignored Kurt. "Lily, this is a chair. Can you say, 'chair'?"

"Fa!" squealed Lily again.

"Where is Finn, anyway?" said Kurt.

"He went shopping," said Rachel. "Lily, this is a dolly-"

"_What_?" said Kurt. "Finn went shopping without me?"

"Fa!" shouted Lily, pointing to the dolly.

"Calm down, he's just going out with your dad to get some supplies for the shop," said Rachel. "How do you handle going clothes shopping with Finn, anyway? He doesn't exactly have your style."

"It's pure torture," said Kurt. "But I'm sure if he went by himself or with the guys he'd do even worse. He's all boy, it's impossible to get him to wear anything _nice_."

"That's what you have me for, silly!" said Rachel. "And Blaine. And Lily. Hey Lily, this is a dress, can you say 'dress'?"

"Fa!" said Lily.

"Oh, come on now," said Kurt, looking at Lily seriously. "I've taught you better than that." The one-year-old just blinked. "Hey Rachel, would you mind handing me the remote? It's over there on the armchair."

"Sure," said Rachel. She stood up and grabbed the remote. "Here." She stepped closer towards Kurt to hand it to him, banging her leg hard against the coffee table in the process. "Oww, dammit," she mumbled.

Lily grinned. "Oww dammit!"

* * *

First Day Of Senior Year

"Lily, guess what?" said Finn. "I'm going back to school today."

"School! Yay!" said Lily.

"Easy for you to say," said Finn, pulling his jacket on over his school uniform. "Kurt's going to school, too."

"Yay!" said Lily. "Kurt school! School sing hall cwock winnows door hard swam! wooms desks red coffee cold mess."

"Um…yeah," said Finn. "Lily, why don't you put all the toys you were planning to take to grandma's house in the diaper bag?"

Lily grinned. "Gwama school too?"

"No, Lily," said Finn. "_You're_ going to Grandma Fabray's house while _I _go to school with Kurt and Blaine and Rachel."

"Rachel!" squealed Lily. "Toenails!"

Finn sighed, stuffed the rest of the books he needed into his backpack, and began packing Lily's toys himself. He still thought his daughter was much too young for toenail polish, even though Rachel, Kurt, and his mom had all begged to differ.

"Lily school!" said Lily. "Lily school! Lily school!"

"No Lily," said Finn. "Lily grandma's house, Daddy school."

"No," said Lily. Then she just sat there for a minute. "Daddy sing baby Rachel song."

"What?" said Finn. He went over to Lily, sat her down on the edge of his bed, and started to put her shoes on.

"Sing baby Rachel song," said Lily again.

"What is that?" said Finn.

"_Baby Rachel _song!" said Lily, looking at Finn like he was a complete idiot for not knowing what she was talking about.

"Let's go get in the car," said Finn. He grabbed the backpack and the diaper bag and took Lily's hand. She toddled along next to him on small clumsy legs.

"Baby la light uppa wood wike no bunny ewse," sang Lily, completely off-key but clearly enough.

"Oh _that_ Rachel song," said Finn, surprised that she still remembered how he had seranaded Rachel with that song shortly before Nationals. He stepped out into the garage where his car was and scooped Lily up so she wouldn't trip down the cement steps.

"Daddy sing!" squealed Lily.

"No, sorry Lily," said Finn. "That's Rachel's song. I can only sing it to her."

"Aww," said Lily as Finn unlocked the side door to his car. "Daddy sing stand by Lily song?"

"I can do that," said Finn with a smile. He climbed into the front seat, opened the garage door, put the keys in the ignition, and began to sing.

"_Oh, why you look so sad?  
__Tears are in your eyes  
__Come on and come to me now_…"

By the time he finished the song, he and Lily were already at Mrs. Fabray's house. "_My_ song," Lily insisted.

"Yes, Lily," said Finn. "That will always be your song."

* * *

"Don't you get it?" said Finn. "He's not gonna recruit me. I'm not good enough at football to get a scholarship, I'm not a good enough singer to get into NYADA, I'm not…"

Finn froze slightly and stopped shouting when Rachel put Lily down in his arms. "Daddy sad?" said Lily.

"You heard what he said," said Rachel softly. "Just because your football career ends in high school doesn't mean your life does. You're too young to be giving up just because your dreams didn't come true. You'll just create new dreams for yourself."

This reminded Finn very much of something that Rachel had said to him after his and Quinn's second sonogram appointment when she found him alone in the choir room freaking out about how he was ever going to be able to live his own life and be a father to Lily at the same time. "Of course you'll still have goals for yourself," she'd said. "You'll just have someone else to think about along the way. _Two_ someone elses," she'd grudgingly added, not yet knowing that the other "someone else" would ultimately end up being her rather than Quinn.

"And this," said Rachel, stroking Lily's dark curls with her left hand. "This is _proof_ that you can do something right."

Finn wiped the tears from his eyes. "Yeah."

"It's okay, Daddy," said Lily. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

Rachel, not quite knowing what else to do, wrapped her arms around both of them and started to sing.

"_Yellow diamonds in the light  
__And we're standing side by side  
__As your shadow crosses mine  
__What it takes to come alive  
__It's the way I'm feeling I just can't deny  
__But I've got to let it go  
__We found love in a hopeless place  
__We found love in a hopeless place  
__We found love in a hopeless place  
__We found love in a hopeless place_"

After a few minutes, Lily was asleep. Rachel wordlessly scooped her up out of Finn's arms, brought her to the bedroom she still shared with Finn, and set her down in the crib. When she got back. Finn was still sitting in the living room with his back facing her. Rachel took off her coat, walked around to in front of the couch, and sat down on the floor. Then she pulled a pillow and blanket down off the couch and placed them on the floor.

"What are you doing?" said Finn. "The play's over."

"I know," said Rachel. "This is about you and me now. I'm not an actress anymore." She leaned over and kissed him. "Just a girl who loves you."

* * *

The next day, Finn, Rachel, and Lily all had breakfast together in the kitchen. Burt and Carole came home while they were eating, so Finn told them Rachel had just stopped by to hang out before the show. "How'd the campaign fundraiser go?" said Finn.

"Went _great_," said Burt. "I'm already five percentage points above Sue Sylvester."

"Oh, Finn," said Carole. "How did it go with the recruiter?"

"Not great," Finn admitted. "There's no way I'll be able to get a football scholarship."

"Are you sure?" said Carole. Both Finn and Rachel nodded sadly.

"You know," said Finn as his eyes happened to fall on an old photograph of his father. "I never told anyone, but my backup plan was always joining the army."

"Oh really?" said Carole, her face instantly turning white.

"Not that that's gonna happen now," Finn mumbled as he glanced at Lily, who was clumsily shoving a spoonful of baby food into her mouth.

"I guess not," said Carole, for the first time secretly glad that her son was a teen dad so that she would never have to explain to him why he should never join the army.

* * *

Senior Year Nationals

"Guys, I've got bad news," said Kurt, sprinting into the green room. "Vocal Adrenaline just stole one of our songs."

"Oh, crap," mumbled Blaine. "What song?"

"Finn's solo," said Kurt.

"Say what?" said Finn, who was busy changing Lily's diaper so he could hand her off to Carole.

"You have to come up with a new solo to sing," said Kurt. "In the next five minutes."

"What about that one you sang at Burt and Carole's wedding?" Rachel suggested.

"I'm a little out of practice with that one, I haven't sang it anywhere but the shower in years," said Finn. "What am I gonna do?"

"Shower?" said Lily confused. "Slushie shower big song school pink?"

"What?" said Sam.

"Oh, I wouldn't even try to translate that," said Mercedes, coming over and adjusting his tie.

"Kurt!" said Lily. "Born away!"

"Lily, be quiet," said Rachel. "We're trying to think of a song that Daddy can sing in just a minute."

"Baby Rachel song!" Lily exclaimed.

"What?" said Rachel.

"She's talking about What Makes You Beautiful," said Finn.

"You can sing that!" said Rachel.

Finn smiled. "I don't know. That's our song. I only ever sing it to you."

Rachel smiled back. "Then go out there and sing it to me in front of everyone. I'll stand right here."

Finn leaned over and gave her a quick kiss before walking away to go warm up.

"_Everyone else in the room can see it  
__Everyone else but you  
__Baby, you light up my world  
__Like nobody else  
__The way that you flip your hair  
__Gets me overwhelmed  
__And when you smile at the ground  
__It ain't hard to tell  
__You don't know oh oh  
__You don't know you're beautiful_"

Two original songs later, victory was theirs.

* * *

End of Summer

Lily peered into Kurt's room and looked curiously at the stacks of boxes and suitcases by his door. The last time she'd seen them was a few days before Grandma Carole and Grandpa Burt had disappeared with all their things, and she hadn't seen them since.

"Kurt?" said Lily. "Where you go?"

Kurt smiled almost sadly. "I'm going to college."

"What's college?" said Lily.

"It's like high school," said Kurt. "Only bigger. And _really_ far away."

"No!" yelled Lily. "Kurt stay here!"

"I can't," said Kurt. "No one is staying here. That's why Grandpa hired a manager for the tire shop and rented out the house."

"Nooo!" yelled Lily. Then she burst into tears. Not quite sure what to do, Kurt scooped her up and hugged her.

"It's okay, Lily," said Kurt. "You'll still be in Ohio. You're going to college with Daddy."

"Kurt, Lily, Daddy, college?" sniffed Lily.

"Yes," said Kurt. "But we're not all going to the same place."

Lily shook her head. "Kurt stay with us," she whimpered.

"Sorry," said Kurt. "I have to go to college with Rachel. If I don't, she'll have no one to pick out her clothes for her."

"Rachel too!"

"No, sorry," said Kurt. "_Blaine_ might be going with you and Daddy."

Lily shook her head. "Blaine goes with you. Rachel goes with Daddy."

Kurt sighed. "And that would be the part where it all gets complicated."

Not understanding, Lily got up and left to go find Finn. Kurt sighed as she darted into their bedroom and immediately told Finn that they were bringing him and Rachel to college with them. Kurt pulled his buzzing phone out of his pocket and answered it. "Blaine?"

"You're still coming over later, right?" said Blaine.

"Of course," said Kurt. He paused. "Blaine? Are you okay?"

"Can you just promise me one more time that this is going to work out?" Blaine pleaded reluctantly.

"You're insane. Of course it is," said Kurt. "How many times have I told you that I'm never saying goodbye to you?"

"A lot," Blaine admitted.

"_Don't make me close one more door," _Kurt sang. "_I don't wanna hurt anymore._"

"_Don't walk away from me_," Blaine sang from his end.

Kurt smiled. "_I have nothing, nothing, nothing, if I don't have you._"

* * *

The next morning, Rachel came over to say goodbye to Finn and to pick up Kurt. Lily was so furious that she hid behind the couch until they left and wouldn't even come out to hug them goodbye. Then Kurt and Rachel got into their taxi and drove off to the train station. Lily burst into tears.

"You wanna come out of there, Lily?" said Finn.

"NO!" yelled Lily. "Make Kurt and Rachel come back!"

"I can't," said Finn. "I miss them too." He sighed, suddenly feeling really depressed. This was all so _final_. "Wanna go to the park?"

"NO!" yelled Lily again.

"Okay, fine," said Finn. He went over to the front door and started to pull his shoes on. "I'll just go by myself."

Within seconds, Lily was up next to him, clinging to his leg. He scooped her up and thought for just one second about how weird it was having nobody else in the house but Lily. Not for long, though. Within two weeks, he and Lily would be living in special housing at Ohio State and this house would be lived in by somebody else.

"This was the last house your mom ever lived in," said Finn with a sigh.

"Mama?" said Lily.

"Yeah," said Finn. Both of them stopped to glance at the picture of himself, Quinn, and Lily as a baby that still hung in the hallway, the one picture that hadn't been taken down yet. He wasn't sure if he liked the idea of it packed away in some storage unit.

"Where Mama go?" Lily asked for the first time ever, startling Finn slightly.

"I don't know, Lily," said Finn. "She's just gone." Then before Lily could ask any more questions, Finn stepped out the front door and locked it behind them.

"Lily, no," said Finn. "Don't throw the sand out of the sandbox. You're supposed to play _in_ it."

"Sorry Daddy," said Lily. She climbed out of the sandbox and tried to scoop the sand back in.

"It's okay," said Finn. "Just try building something."

"Build?" said Lily.

"Yeah," said Finn. "You could try making a house, or a castle…"

"Or a junkyard?"

Finn rolled his eyes and turned around to see Puck standing there. "Hey," said Puck.

"Build castle!" squealed Lily as she began pushing together a mound of sand into a pile.

"Hey," said Finn. "Long time no see."

"Right," said Puck. Things with Finn and Puck sure weren't as tense as they were in the weeks after Finn found out that Puck was Lily's biological father, but they would never be best friends again the way that they were before.

"So, how's it going?" said Puck.

"Good," said Finn. "We're moving away to college in a few days, actually."

"This is my castle, okay?" said Lily, patting her mound of sand triumphantly. Finn smiled.

"Did Kurt and Rachel get accepted into NYADA?" said Puck.

"Yeah," said Finn. "They just left a few minutes ago, actually. Do you have any plans?"

"Lauren and I are moving in together in a few weeks," said Puck. "I'm gonna stop by the tire shop and see if Burt's manager is hiring. Lauren insists that I can't stick with just my pool cleaning business forever, and I guess she's sort of right."

"Nice," said Finn. "What's Lauren gonna do?"

"Professional wrestling," said Puck.

"Big shock," said Finn. Both of the guys laughed in spite of themselves.

"Can I have a picture?" said Puck suddenly.

"Of Lily?" said Finn. He turned to look at his daughter. She was decorating her mound of sand with some dry brown leaves.

"Yeah," said Puck. "Just one. If it's not cool with you I understand. It's just that I'll probably never see her again." Finn took his eyes off Lily and turned to Puck for a moment. "It's not like you're coming back."

"I'm sure I'll be back," said Finn quickly and uncertainly.

"No you won't," said Puck. "At Christmas and Thanksgiving you'll stay with Burt and Carole in Washington, you'll spend summers in New York with Rachel, and then you'll probably stay there together or move somewhere even cooler. Face it: no one ever leaves Lima, and of the people who do, no one ever comes back."

Finn couldn't think of an argument to that. "Do you have a phone with you?"

"Yeah," said Puck.

"Take a picture right now," said Finn.

Puck smiled gratefully. Then he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture.

* * *

Despite what Puck had said, Finn and Lily _did _make the drive home to Lima occasionally on long weekends so that Lily could spend time with her maternal grandparents while Finn caught up on his schoolwork. But more often Mrs. Fabray would drive up to visit them for the day now and then. As predicted, Finn flew up to Washington for Christmas break. Rachel and Kurt, who he Skyped with almost every day, both came too.

The next summer, Finn ended up staying in Washington and got a job at a hot dog stand. Now three-year-old Lily stayed in day care or occasionally with Carole during the day. Rachel, who was in summer school, took the train to visit them a week after they got there. Kurt went back to Lima to visit Blaine.

"You know Blaine's coming to New York this year too," Rachel remarked as she buttoned up the back of Lily's dress. "He got accepted into the vocal department at Julliard."

"_What_?" said Finn. "How am I always the last to know?"

Rachel shrugged. "I live with Kurt."

"Right," said Finn. "What do you mean you live together? Are you literally staying in the same dorm room?"

"Yup," said Rachel.

"At Ohio State the dorm rooms are split by gender," said Finn.

"At NYADA the rooms are split by sexual orientation," said Rachel.

"We should move to New York too, Daddy," said Lily seriously. Her determined green eyes were almost convincing. Rachel had French braided Lily's dark hair and put her in a purple party dress that Kurt bought her. Lily adored having Kurt and Rachel around mainly because they did all the "girly" stuff with her that Finn didn't know how to do. Plus, she had begun to notice the weird looks that Finn was getting when he was seen with her around Ohio State-being a single dad of a three-year-old by college wasn't normal. This wasn't the first time that she'd announced they should move.

"Not likely, honey," said Finn.

Lily crossed her arms over her chest. "We're all _alone_ in Ohio. There's nobody to play with."

"Grandma and Grandpa Fabray are in Ohio," said Finn.

"They can come visit us," said Lily. "We don't need to stay in Ohio. Ohio is _stupid._"

"Yes, honey, we do," said Finn. "My school is in Ohio. You know that."

Lily walked over to a box of toys that wasn't done being unpacked yet, pulled out a tiara, and placed it on her head. "Time for me to turn three!" She skipped out into the kitchen. Finn and Rachel smiled at each other, him relieved that Lily was distracted.

"Does she know that this is a belated birthday party?" asked Rachel.

"I tried telling her, but she's convinced that she can't turn three until she blows out the candles," said Finn.

Rachel smiled. They went to the kitchen to join Burt, Carole, and Lily for her party.

"What a lovely tiara!" said Carole as she helped Lily up into her booster seat. "Where did you get that?"

Finn smiled sadly, remembering where it had come from. "That was Quinn's, mom. Quinn saved it for her."

* * *

More time passed. Everyone went back to school. With Blaine in New York, Rachel saw decidedly less of Kurt on the weekends they weren't studying or rehearsing. The next spring he told her that he and Blaine were going away together, so Rachel went back to Ohio to visit Finn and Lily

"What are you planning on doing for your birthday this year, Lily?" said Rachel.

"Daddy's gonna buy me a pony!" Lily announced. Rachel glanced at Finn quickly.

"I already told you, we have no place to keep a pony," said Finn, amused.

"We will in New York," Lily insisted.

"We are _not_ moving to New York, Lily!" said Finn. "At least not right now."

"Yes we will!" yelled Lily.

"No, we're not," said Finn. "I go to school _here._"

"You can go to Julia and be a singer like Blaine!" yelled Lily. "I _know_ you can sing!"

"Lily…" Rachel began to interject.

"You know what Daddy wants to grow up to be now?" said Lily, turning to Rachel with hands on her hips. "A _dumb old contractor!"_

"_What?_" said Rachel, instantly shifting to Lily's side. "Since_ when_?"

Finn shrugged, embarrassed that Rachel was finding out about this from Lily. "I figured that after we all graduate and you become a Broadway star, Lily and I could move to wherever you want to set up home base-I'm guessing New York of course-and I would need to have a job that you can get anywhere."

Rachel shook her head. "You're better than that, Finn."

"_Yeah_," Lily chimed in. "You're better than that, Daddy!" They all heard Finn's cell phone ring on the coffee table. Lily bolted over to answer it.

"You're _just _as talented of a performer as I am!" Rachel protested. "You don't think that Broadway could use you? If there's anything NYADA is lacking it's straight macho guys who can sing and…sort of dance."

"How do you figure I'm supposed to be on Broadway?" said Finn. "Don't Broadway performers have to travel all the time? I have a kid."

"Well…you could still be a performer of some sort!" said Rachel. "Not settle for being a _contractor_!"

"Uncle Blaine's on the phone!" called Lily.

Finn and Rachel both looked at each other as he went to answer the phone. They both knew this discussion wasn't over


	2. Manhattan Part 1

Over the summer proceeding Rachel, Kurt, and Finn's senior year of college, Rachel was away at a summer internship and Finn stayed with his parents, as usual, so that they could be of some help with Lily while he worked his two summer jobs. This left Kurt and Blaine free to visit their friends back in Ohio and fade as far into the background of the "Finchel drama" as possible. The physical distance between them certainly did nothing to discourage their relationship, or their disagreements about what Finn was going to do with his life.

"And as of now, Rachel is threatening to cut her hair down to three inches long if he doesn't at least _consider_ something in the performing arts, and Lily is threatening to run away to New York," said Kurt. "And to top it off, Dad is stressed out because he may have to run for reelection for congress and the manager he's hired for the tire shop is making decisions without his permission that he doesn't agree with it all. I'd offer to go over there and check on things if I knew anything about cars. Or business."

"How do you even know all this stuff, Kurt?" said Blaine. "I thought we said you were staying out of it."

"That doesn't stop both Finn and Rachel from calling me with updates constantly," said Kurt. The truth was, getting in the middle of an argument between his best friend and his brother was the _last_ thing he wanted to do. "I should call the restaurant to confirm our reservation." The second Kurt's phone was in his hand, it started to ring, and Rachel's name showed on the screen. "And here we go again." Kurt put the phone to his ear. "Rachel, darling, I love you but I'm a little busy right now. Blaine and I are about to go out for dinner." Actually, their reservation was two hours away, but he'd gotten enough of an earful from her that morning.

"It's not Rachel," said a small, scared voice at the end of the line.

"Lily?" said Kurt. "What are you doing with Rachel's phone?"

"Calling you," said Lily. "Daddy kept trying to call you but his phone isn't working."

"Is Rachel visiting him right now?" Kurt asked, confused because she hadn't mentioned anything about visiting Finn earlier.

"She came here right away," sniffed Lily. "She's hugging Daddy and Daddy is crying because he thinks it's all his fault, and I don't know why! I've never seen Daddy cry before, Kurt!"

Kurt's blood ran cold instantly. "What does Daddy think is his fault?"

"Grandpa is sick," said Lily. "He was sitting at the table, then grabbed his chest and fell and couldn't get back up!"

Kurt's breath slowed. "Oh my god."

"Are you okay, Kurt?" asked Blaine, rushing to his boyfriend's side instantly. "You look like you're about to be sick."

"Lily, I need you to give the phone to your Daddy _now_," said Kurt.

"Okay," said Lily. "Daddy! Kurt wants to talk to you!" The sound of Finn sniffling in the background only made Kurt more anxious. Kurt heard his stepbrother weakly mumbling for a moment, then Rachel took the phone and said, "Hey."

"What the hell happened?" asked Kurt. "Did he have another heart attack?"

"Something like that," said Rachel. "Not as bad as a heart attack...but worse than a heart murmur...or something...but he's stable. Carole is at the hospital with him."

"I'm on my way over," said Kurt shakily. He hung up before Rachel had the chance to say anything else.

"Is it your dad?" asked Blaine.

"Yes," said Kurt. "Something is wrong with his heart."

Blaine immediately grabbed his jacket and pulled it on. "Let's get you down to the train station." Kurt numbly followed Blaine to the front door and locked it behind them with fumbling fingers. Blaine squeezed his hand. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"I _need_ you to come with me," said Kurt.

By the time Blaine and Kurt reached Washington D.C., it was past midnight. Finn and Rachel were sitting on the couch, Lily asleep in the guest room she shared with Finn nearby. "It's not your fault," said Rachel for the fiftieth time that night as she rubbed her boyfriend's shoulder, his head half buried in her chest.

"I'm sure it is," said Finn. "Me and the tension caused by the fact that I'm too stupid to figure out what to do with my life..."

"Finn, you're _not_ stupid," said Rachel, tightening her hold around him a little. Then she realized what this was really about. "This isn't your fault. Neither was the fact that Quinn died."

"That was the last time I felt this way," Finn admitted quietly.

"You didn't put the wine glass or car keys in her hand," said Rachel. "And you had _nothing _to do with Burt's heart attack. It was probably the stress of his job and all the meetings he has and having to worry about the shop at the same time."

"I was too selfish worrying about what I'm going to do to even realize how stressed out he was!" said Finn. "Now because of me, Kurt could be an orphan, my mother could be a widow again, Lily could experience death for the second time in her life..."

In that moment, a very pale-faced Kurt and Blaine burst into the house. Rachel sighed with relief. "What's happening?" asked Kurt shakily.

"We talked to Carole half an hour ago, there's no change," said Rachel.

"Where is she?" asked Kurt. He looked-if possible-if he were in worse shape than Finn was.

"Still at the hospital," said Rachel. "Finn, why don't you take them? I can stay here with Lily."

Finn opened his mouth to say something but didn't. He felt like he needed both Rachel _and_ Kurt with him, but he knew that Kurt would need Blaine more than Rachel, and after all, Kurt was the only one who's only living parent was lying in a hospital bed right now. That realization was what finally forced Finn to calm down a bit.

"Right," said Finn. "We'll call you if anything changes. Kurt, go grab some food out of the fridge to take to Mom, will you? I'll bring money for coffee to buy once we get there, I'm sure we all need it."

Rachel smiled. She knew Finn would snap back into his usual take charge demeanor sooner or later. She slept at the foot of Finn's bed that night with her phone under her pillow, but it never went off. The next morning, she got herself and Lily dressed and went down to the hospital herself. The first person they saw in the hallway was Blaine. "Hey," said Blaine. "I just tried calling you. Burt woke up about five minutes ago, thank god."

Rachel breathed a sigh of relief. "Are they all in with him?"

"Yeah," said Blaine. "Kurt kept going in there all night and singing to him while Finn paced and hugged his mom every few seconds. Now they're just in there talking."

"Can I go in?" asked Lily.

"Not right now," said Rachel, squeezing the four-year-old's hand. "The important thing is that grandpa is going to be okay."

Inside the patient care room, Burt was smiling up at his two concerned sons. "Fine?" said Kurt. "Dad, you're not fine."

"I wasn't even unconscious for that long," Burt grunted. "I'll be okay."

"Of course you will," said Finn. "Because this isn't going to happen again. You aren't going to have to deal with me arguing with Rachel anymore, because I finally decided what I'm doing."

Burt smiled. "Oh?"

"And you aren't going to have to worry about the tire shop, either, because what I'm doing is going to business college in New York for the next two years and then taking it over," said Finn. "And then you can retire from being a congressman, and retire from your job, and you'll have nothing to worry about anymore."

After they finished talking to Burt, Kurt and Finn stepped out into the hallway. "Are you sure about this, Finn?" said Kurt.

"Yes, I am," said Finn. "I talked it over with Rachel. I'm applying to a business academy in New York. I've already taken most of the required classes, I'll go there for the next two years and then take over the tire shop for as long as I need to. There's no telling where Rachel will be travelling once she's on Broadway, so she has no problem with setting up her home base in Ohio where all her friends and family live anyway."

Kurt didn't say anything. He guessed that this might not be what Finn or Rachel wanted in two years and if then maybe not for the rest of their lives. But at least at the other end, Finn would have a business degree rather than just the right knowledge to become a contractor. And for now, everyone would be happy. Mostly Kurt was just feeling relieved that Burt was going to be okay. And a teensy bit horrified that he was going to have to wear the same clothes two days in a row because he hadn't thought to bring anything with him.

* * *

At the beginning of the next school year, the former members of New Directions pooled together their money to rent a two-bedroom New York apartment together-one bedroom for Kurt and Blaine, and one bedroom for Rachel and Finn. They converted a large closet into a bedroom for Lily. "We're all going to love it here!" she squealed, reaching into a moving box and pulling out an armful of random stuffed animals, all wearing pink dresses. She glanced around at her room thoughtfully. "This really needs to be painted pink."

Finn sighed. "Is it really necessary for _everything_ you own to be pink, Lily?"

"Duh!" said Rachel and Lily in unison. Lily smiled at Rachel. "Us girls gotta stick together," said Rachel. She gave Lily a fist bump.

Finn rolled his eyes. "Right now, let's just worry about unpacking everything."

"Okay," said Lily. "I can help!" She ran over to a box full of books, opened it, and started stacking them on the floor.

"Not yet, Lily," said Blaine. "We have to build the bookshelves first."

"Okay," said Lily. "I'll get the hammer and nails.

"_No_," said Finn, Kurt, and Rachel in unison.

"Maybe Rachel should take Lily for a walk," Blaine suggested.

"Yeah," said Finn. "I can unpack both our stuff."

"No, no, no, _I_ need to unpack my stuff," said Rachel quickly. "I'm the only one who knows what direction to fold my clothes in or how to hang my mirror or line up my soaps."

_So Rachel_, Kurt thought.

"Why don't Blaine and Kurt take Lily for a while?" said Rachel. "We can take turns unpacking."

"Okay," said Finn.

Lily pouted. "But I w_ant _to help unpack."

"Maybe later," said Blaine. "Right now Kurt needs your help buying some things for the apartment."

"Okay," said Lily, content as long as she felt like she was being helpful.

Once they were all outside on the sidewalk, Lily started clinging to both Kurt and Blaine's hands. "Why do all the buildings here have black balconies with stairs on them?" she asked.

"Those are fire escapes, Lily," said Blaine.

Lily screamed a little. "It's okay, there aren't fire's here very often," said Kurt, squeezing her hand more tightly.

"Good," said Lily. She glanced around some more. "Why is that man sleeping on the sidewalk with a shopping cart?"

"Some people in New York can't afford houses or apartments," said Blaine gently.

Lily glanced up in shock. "I thought _everybody _lived somewhere!"

"I'm sure they'll find somewhere to live, soon," said Kurt.

Lily held onto his hand with both her hands now and started glancing up at the sky. It was then that she realized how tall the buildings were. She froze in her tracks. "Why is everything so tall here?"

"Because they ran out of space, so they had to start building up," said Kurt.

Lily whimpered a little. "Do the buildings here ever fall down and land on people?"

"Nope," said Kurt, finally picking up Lily and setting her on his hip. She put her arms around his neck. "There are a lot of good things about New York that you haven't seen yet. Right in the middle there's this _huge_ park that takes up most of Manhattan. You can't see it from here because all the buildings are in the way. There are some beaches over on the other side that way. And," Kurt's eyes lit up, "There are shopping malls _everywhere_."

Lily smiled. "And there's the first one," Kurt announced.

Blaine looked ahead and realized they were headed towards Bloomingdale's. "I thought you said we needed some things for the apartment."

"We do," said Kurt. "I just need a few things for my wardrobe first."

Blaine rolled his eyes and playfully took Kurt's hand and squeezed it. About ten feet ahead of them, a small group of girls about fifteen years old were clustered around a trash can smoking cigarettes. They all glanced up at Kurt, Blaine, and Lily and made strange faces.

"Eww," said a skinny blonde with bright blue eyes and obnoxious red lipstick. "_Gross_."

The other girls nodded. Lily heard both Kurt and Blaine sigh and saw them squeeze hands even tighter. "Do they think I'm gross?" asked Lily.

"No," said Kurt and Blaine.

"Then what was it?" asked Lily.

Neither of the boys said anything for a minute. "Some people think that it's wrong for boys to like other boys," Kurt explained weakly.

"That's stupid," said Lily. "So, that means that you shouldn't like each other, and Daddy shouldn't like either of you, or his friends at school, and none of you should like Grandpa Burt?"

"Not exactly," said Blaine. "They think it's just wrong for two boys to hold hands and kiss and give each other flowers."

Lily starred at him in complete and utter confusion. Of course. She'd grown up her whole life with Kurt openly dating Blaine, not to mention occasionally visiting Rachel's married dads. There was never a reason for her to think there was something unusual about it.

Lily, Blaine, and Kurt entered Bloomingdale's. Near the front, a thin-faced older woman was struggling with several shopping bags.

"You need any help with that?" asked Blaine.

The woman looked over and saw that they were still holding hands. She frowned. "You boys should be ashamed of yourselves."

"Oh, shut up," snapped Lily.

Everyone looked at her at once but didn't say anything. "You can put me down now," said Lily obliviously. Kurt set her down on the marble floor, and Lily dashed over to a display of hats and put one on her head. "This is definitely my color," she said.

Kurt and Blaine glanced at each other and smiled. Lily was _definitely_ ready for the big city.

* * *

Finn and Lily were both surprisingly happier living in New York. Lily was still in day care for several hours a day, but if Finn had to work late or study for a while, there was usually somebody else who could bring her home and do something with her. Sometimes it was Blaine or Kurt, but often it was Rachel. Several nights in a row, Finn smiled to himself as he listened to the sound of both of his favorite girls giggling about something he probably wouldn't understand.

"You should put her to bed tomorrow night, Finn," said Rachel. "She misses you singing to her." Finn smiled. "She kind of misses you in general."

"Don't think I don't that I'm hate working all these long hours as much as she does," said Finn.

"When she gets older she'll realize you did it for her," said Rachel.

When Finn entered Lily's now-pink room the following night, she immediately broke into a smile and started beaming. It almost made him sad how obviously thrilled she was to have some alone time with him. Even more startling was the fact that when he started tucking her into her tiny bed, the first thing she said was, "Daddy, is Rachel my mommy?"

Finn smiled. "That's a silly question. You know who your mommy is." In fact, there was a picture of Quinn sitting right there on the bookshelf next to them. It was the newest picture of her there was or would ever be, taken by Carole of her and Finn on Valentine's Day when they were about to leave the house for their last date. Finn had eventually had himself cropped out of the picture, since it hadn't exactly turned out to be the most romantic night of their lives. But Quinn was still stunningly beautiful in the light blue dress that she'd been planning to wear to prom that year. Her hair was down, because Finn had liked it that way.

"Grandma Fabray says that after the car crash God took her up to heaven to be his angel," said Lily. "Is that true?"

Finn smiled. "Sure." He definitely wasn't as religious as Quinn's mom and dad were, but that was a sweet way to look at Quinn's death for Lily. Certainly better than praying to a grilled cheese sandwich.

"What I meant was," Lily continued. "Is Rachel my _other_ mommy? You know, like Kurt had a mommy who gave birth to him, but then he lost her and later Grandma became his mommy."

"Grandma is just like a mommy to Kurt in some ways," said Finn. "But she's really his _stepmom_."

"And Rachel is _my_ stepmom?" said Lily.

"No," said Finn. "We're not married. Grandma is my mom, and Grandpa is Kurt's dad, and when they got married, Grandma became Kurt's stepmom and Grandpa became my stepdad."

He paused for a moment while Lily starred at him. Maybe that was too big of a concept for the mind of an almost-five-year-old. But all Lily said was, "So you need to marry Rachel then."

Finn smiled. "Rachel and I are a little too young to get married, sweetheart."

Lily looked up at him in confusion. "You aren't too young to have a kid, but you are too young to get married?"

"Umm…" Finn didn't say anything for a moment. "Right now I think we should just enjoy our time in New York, okay? Do you still love it here?"

"Yes!" said Lily. "Blaine is going to take me to see the Statue of Liberty next week."

Finn smiled. "That's awesome. Do you want to read a book together before you go to bed?"

"No," said Lily. Most of her books were either about kittens or princesses, so usually either Kurt or Rachel read them to her. "Will you sing to me?"

"Of course." That night, Lily drifted off to sleep to the chorus of I'll Stand By You. Or as she called it when she was talking to Finn, "Stand By Me."

As Finn quietly closed the door to Lily's room and snuck out, he suddenly started to wonder why he'd never thought before about when he was going to ask Rachel to marry him. Or even whether or not he was going to ask Rachel to marry him. He supposed that the handwriting had sort of been on the wall all along. They'd included each other in all their future plans since high school. Rachel had only become progressively closer to Lily since the move. Both Carole and Burt seemed to like her, even though they thought she was a little nutty at times. As for Kurt…well, he and Rachel had probably been identical twins in another life.

Despite the fact that they were already living together, Finn didn't think it was a good idea to marry Rachel while they were still in college. But maybe it was time to at least think about taking a step in that direction…

* * *

"Hey, Lily, would you mind coming somewhere with me?" asked Finn.

"Okay," said Lily, hopping down from the couch and coming over to the door.

"Bye guys, we're off to get some more school supplies for Lily," said Finn. He quickly herded his daughter out the door before she had time to say anything else.

"I thought we were done school supplies shopping," said Lily. Her first day of Kindergarten and the first day of Finn, Rachel, and Kurt's senior year started in less than two weeks.

"Shh," said Finn. "We are. We're going to pick out something else."

"What?" asked Lily.

"Come over here and I'll tell you," said Finn. He took Lily's hand and hurried down the block. Lily giggled. Finn ran but had to pause every few seconds in order to not get ahead of her.

"Where are we going?" asked Lily, her black messy ponytail coming loose as they ran. Her cheeks were flushed.

"Picking out a present for Rachel," said Finn.

"A song to sing?" Lily guessed.

"Nope," said Finn.

"A pony?" said Lily.

"_No_."

"A toy, then," said Lily.

"No," said Finn.

"Why not?" Lily was convinced that the adults in her life didn't play with toys nearly enough. Their lives must be really boring except for singing and doing stuff with her.

"Lily, do you know what an engagement ring is?" said Finn.

Lily's eyes lit up. "Of course I do! It's something you put on someone's finger so that they have to marry you. Just like Brittany did with Santana."

Finn blinked. "_What_?"

"I heard her skyping with Rachel," said Lily. "Brittany gave Santana a ring pop and asked her to marry her. We can get ring pops at the drug store!"

"I think that Rachel would like something a bit less…_edible_ than a ring pop," said Finn. "We're going over _there_." He pointed to Tiffany's.

"Isn't that a restaurant?" asked Lily. "Kurt and Blaine like to watch a movie about people having breakfast there."

Finn smiled. "They just eat breakfast outside the door."

"Oh," said Lily. "That's weird."

Finn took Lily's hand and led her inside. "Don't touch anything," Finn warned her. "If you break something and I have to pay for it, I won't have any money left for the ring. Lily shoved the hand that wasn't holding Finn's in her pocket and charged alongside him up to the counter.

"Hi," said Lily. "We're here to pick out an engagement ring for my new stepmom." Finn and the jeweler both smiled.

"Our selection of engagement rings is over here," said the jeweler.

"We need that heart shaped one," Lily insisted.

"I think Rachel would like something a bit more traditional," said Finn.

"But if you get her the heart she'll know you love her," said Lily.

"We have plenty of heart shapes," said the jeweler. "Right now we also have emerald shapes, oval shapes, princess shapes…"

"Princess!" exclaimed Lily.

"Let's have a look," said Finn, having no idea what that was supposed to mean. As it turned out, it was perfect. Lily helped him pick out the band and cut of the diamond. On the way home, Finn bought her a ring pop just so that she would have something in her mouth and not be able to spill the beans before he popped the question.

When Finn and Lily got home, Finn pulled out his key and to put it in the lock and suddenly froze. "Are you okay, Daddy?"

Finn laughed a little. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Lily shook her head. "You're nervous. Whenever you're nervous you laugh for a second."

Finn sighed. "Yeah."

"Are you afraid she'll say no?" said Lily. "She won't say no. She loves you."

"I'm just…worried I won't ask her the right way or something," said Finn, not sure how else to put it into words, especially for a little kid.

"Maybe you should sing to her," said Lily. "Rachel said that singing can be the right way to say almost anything." Finn smiled. "Only don't sing that song Blaine was singing in the shower the other day."

"Don't worry, I won't," said Finn. Even he knew that serenading Rachel with 'Another One Bites The Dust' wouldn't be the most romantic way to propose; even with a platinum Tiffany engagement ring in his pocket that was probably going to take a decade to pay for.

"What about "What Makes You Beautiful"?" asked Lily.

"I need something I haven't used before," said Finn, racking his brain. The only wedding-themed song that was coming to mind was the one he had sung with the Glee club at Burt and Carole's wedding.

"Wait," said Finn. "Now I've got it." He quickly searched his iPod for the instrumental of the song he was thinking of. "Lily, put that ring pop back in your mouth." She did as he asked as he led her into the living room.

Kurt and Rachel were in the kitchen arguing over the best way to heat up a rum chocolate soufflé when the heard the song of a familiar melody coming from their speakers in the living room. Confused, they both headed in the direction of the room. Lily came right over, took Rachel by the hand, and led her to the center of the room. Kurt stayed a few feet back in the doorway as Finn began to walk over from around the corner and sing.

"_Heart beats fast  
Colors and promises  
How to be brave  
How can I love when I'm afraid  
To fall  
But watching you stand alone  
All of my doubt  
Suddenly goes away somehow"_

Caught pleasantly off guard, Rachel kept her eyes on Finn, a slightly shocked and happy smile lighting up her face. Lily beamed intently from her place on the sofa.

_"One step closer_…  
_I have died everyday  
waiting for you  
Darlin' don't be afraid  
I have loved you for a  
Thousand years  
I'll love you for a  
Thousand more"_

Rachel had happy tears in her eyes now. Blaine emerged from his bedroom and took his place beside Kurt in the doorway. They glanced at each other, knowing from the show Finn was making out of singing to Rachel and Lily's excited expression exactly what was about to happen.

"_Time stands still  
Beauty in all she is  
I will be brave  
I will not let anything  
Take away  
What's standing in front of me  
Every breath,  
Every hour has come to this_"

Rachel looked like she didn't know whether to laugh or cry at that point. She hadn't guessed what Finn was about to do, but she was sure it was something. And for the moment, she just felt more special than anything.

"_One step closer…  
I have died everyday_

Waiting for you  
Darlin' don't be afraid  
I have loved you for a  
Thousand years  
I'll love you for a  
Thousand more"

Lily sucked impatiently at her ring pop. Much as she loved hearing her father sing, she was about to burst with anticipation.

"_And all along I believed  
I would find you…_"

Finn slowly stopped in front of Rachel and knelt down on his knee. She let out a tiny shriek. Lily clapped.

"_Time has brought  
Your heart to me  
I have loved you for a  
Thousand years  
I'll love you for a  
Thousand more_"

As the music wound down, Finn reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring. He popped open the box. Rachel predictably had tears streaming down her face at that point.

"Rachel Berry, will you marry me?" Finn asked, almost in a whisper.

Rachel nodded. "Yes." Lily started cheering "Yes, yes, _yes_!" whispered Rachel through happy tears as she let Finn slip the ring onto her finger. Then he stood up and pulled her into a kiss. Lily threw her arms around both of them for a moment. Then she turned around and noticed that Kurt was crying, too. "You know," said Lily. "I helped Daddy pick out the ring. If you want, I can help you pick out a ring for Blaine."

Kurt and Blaine both started laughing. "Suit yourselves," said Lily. "But Rachel _definitely_ would have said yes faster if we'd gotten her a heart-shaped ring."


	3. Manhattan Part 2

"Lily!" said Finn, sitting down at the table next to Rachel and handing her a box of cereal. "Come on out of there! You're gonna be late for your first day of Kindergarten!"

"Uh, Finn," said Kurt. "I think that's the idea. Last night she told me she's afraid that the teacher won't like her because she doesn't know how to count past thirty."

"Aww, poor Lily," said Brittany. She and Santana were visiting for the week.

"Lily, come on out for breakfast!" said Blaine. "We've got Lucky Charms!"

Still no answer. "Why don't we try talking to her?" said Santana.

"Sure," said Finn. "Can't hurt." Lily hadn't seen Santana and Brittany since they were all together for Mr. Schu and Ms. Pillsbury's wedding and remembered them largely from Skype sessions, but she was enjoying having them around because they played cheerleading camp with her while everyone else was busy and told her new stories about her mother.

Santana and Brittany walked off hand in hand to Lily's bedroom. Santana knocked twice and paused before entering. They found Lily sitting on her bed still in her pajamas clutching more stuffed animals than could reasonably fit in her arms.

"Good morning, Lily," said Santana. "Are you ready to go to Kindergarten?"

Lily didn't respond.

"Oh, come on now," said Brittany. "I never learned how to count past thirty and plenty of teachers liked me. It'll be fine."

Lily inched closer to the wall next to her bed and put her thumb in her mouth, a habit Kurt had trained her out of when she was three.

"What are you worried will happen?" said Santana. "The work won't be that hard. Especially not on the first day ever. All you'll do is take a look around the school and meet the other kids."

"That's what I _don't _want to do!" Lily blurted out. "The other kids at daycare told me that once I got to Kindergarten I wouldn't have any friends."

"Aww, that's not true," said Santana. "Whoever said that to you is probably just jealous. Brittany and I met each other in Kindergarten, and _we're_ still close."

Lily finally smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah," said Brittany. "Even I remember that, and I can't remember what we're having for breakfast."

"Speaking of breakfast," said Rachel. "You should come out and have some before we get you into your uniform, missy." Lily grinned as Rachel gave her a quick kiss on the top of the head as she ran out to the kitchen. "You guys really met each other in Kindergarten?" said Rachel as she began making Lily's bed and laying out her school uniform.

"Yeah," said Brittany. "We weren't in the same class though, we met waiting outside the principal's office on the third day of school."

"I got in trouble for asking the teacher if he'd be dead when I grow up," said Santana.

"And I got in trouble for saying, 'If God's everywhere, is he in the toilet?'," said Brittany. "Which I still don't understand, it's a totally a legit question."

Rachel stifled a giggle. Then she suddenly noticed the engagement ring with the gold band and pear shaped diamond that Santana was now sporting on her left hand. "That's a lovely ring."

"Thanks," said Santana.

"I had to buy her a new one after Lord Tubbington ate the ring pop," said Brittany.

* * *

Because Blaine's classes didn't resume until the following day, he was the one who picked up Lily from Kindergarten. She was predictably enthusiastic and didn't stop talking during the entire drive home. "And if I get an A on the homework assignment, I'll get _five_ froggy stickers!" said Lily.

Blaine smiled, amused by her chatter. "That's great. Are you going to show Santana and Brittany your welcome sticker, too?"

"Yeah," said Lily. She was silent for a moment. "Blaine?"

"Yes, Lily?" he said.

"Did you know Brittany got a ring for Santana?"

"Yes," said Blaine. "It's wonderful. They're going to be married!" _Not that it's legal in Ohio_, he thought.

"Daddy's engaged to Rachel, Brittany is engaged to Santana," said Lily. "Why haven't you bought a ring for Kurt yet?"

Blaine was a bit startled. "Well I…I…"

"You should do it soon," said Lily. "You're, like, taking forever." She was silent for another moment. "Guess what? I got my own cubby with a star on it!"

It was about two months into the school year when Kurt, Rachel, and Lily were all sitting at the table doing their homework together. "Do you know when Blaine's going to be back?" asked Rachel. "I know you got back from your date last night awfully late. You think he'd be too tired to stay late at singing practice."

"Oh, he's…on a happiness high," said Kurt.

"Oh," said Rachel, not sure if she wanted to know what that meant."

Another five minutes went by in silence. Lily finished the row of C's she was carefully handwriting and moved on to a row of G's.

"I'm _very_ disappointed in you Rachel Berry!" Kurt finally burst out.

Rachel and Lily both looked up surprised. "What did I do?" asked Rachel.

"You didn't notice!" said Kurt. He leaned down on the table, folded his arms, and gazed at her very seriously. Rachel surveyed him up and down. He hadn't lost weight. He definitely hadn't gained weight. He wasn't wearing anything unusual, except…

"Eeeeee!" Rachel squealed. "Oh my god, you're right…how did I _not notice_…oh my god…Kurt, this is just…"

"What, what?" asked Lily as Rachel got up and practically flung herself into Kurt's arms.

In answer, Kurt smiled and held out his left hand, revealing the sparking diamond. Lily's face broke into a smile.

"Let's have a double wedding!" exclaimed Rachel. "We can't get married at the exact same time, of course, unless you and Blaine feel like having a Jewish wedding, but we could get married on the same day."

"Yeah," said Kurt. "Like, we have everyone go into one room for your wedding, then into another room for my wedding, and then another room for the reception?"

"Something like that," said Rachel. "I've always wanted to get married in a garden," she confessed.

"Then you shall," said Kurt. "Leave it to me, Mrs. Hudson. You know I've been planning weddings since I was two."

"There's just one problem, said Blaine.

Kurt and Rachel turned around. Blaine was standing in the doorway, Finn slightly behind him near the front door kicking off his sneakers. "What?" asked Kurt, hoping that Blaine didn't hate the idea of sharing their day with Finn and Rachel.

"The closest state to here where it's legal for us to get married is…Connecticut," said Blaine.

Kurt's face visibly fell. "Oh."

Finn smiled. "Then I guess Rachel and I will just have to get married in Connecticut."

"Right," said Rachel. "It's still close enough to Ohio for all our friends and family to get here by train. Will it be too hard to plan a wedding there from over here?"

"It'll take a little extra effort, but you can do anything over the phone these days," said Kurt, flattered that Finn and Rachel were willing to get married in a different state just to be with them.

Now that Kurt was in charge of planning the double wedding, things started to happen fast. The wedding was planned for the spring of 2016 during their two-week break. Venues were booked, invitations were sent out, and before they knew it, a hotel in Connecticut was packed with wedding guests ready for the big day. All of their family members, friends from college, friends from New Directions, and all of the Warblers except Sebastian were invited. An hour before the ceremony was about to start, Finn and Lily went around to the hotel rooms to make sure everyone knew when to be ready. "I have a question, is the gay wedding before or after the Jewish wedding?" asked Sue Sylvester, four-year-old Robin Jean clinging shyly to her hip.

"After," said Finn. "Mine and Rachel's wedding is outside, and then we go inside for Kurt and Blaine's wedding."

"Is it really necessary for you to call it a "gay wedding", Sue?" said Will Schuster. "It's _Kurt_ and _Blaine_'s wedding."

"Will, can you come over here and help me for a moment?" said Emma. She was sitting on a couch nearby struggling to change the diapers on her four-month-old twins.

"Sure," said Will.

Finn's cell phone rang and he stepped towards the door to answer it for a moment.

Lily just stood and glanced around the hotel at the fancy-looking furniture and golden framed mirrors on the wall. Then she glanced at Robin. "Hi."

"Hi," said Robin. "Your mommy didn't have my mommy's bone structure."

"Did _too_!" said Lily.

"Did _not_!" said Robin.

"Did _too_!"

"Did _not_!"

"Lily, you need to go up to Rachel's dressing room now," said Finn. "She and Kurt will do your hair and makeup."

"Okay," said Lily. Finn walked her down the hall and waited until she was in their room, grateful for the fact that Kurt had allowed him to keep the same tuxedo on throughout both ceremonies for simplicity's sake. He Kurt, Rachel, and Lily were in both wedding parties, in Kurt and Rachel's case requiring a change of clothes in between ceremonies.

Finn and Rachel's wedding came first. Everyone stood out in the rose garden next to the building where Kurt and Blaine's wedding would take place while the happy couple was married under a white canopy surrounded by flowers. Rachel wore a veil that covered her face and a white dress and heels that Kurt had picked out for her. Lily's dress was light pink and otherwise matched Rachel's. As per Kurt's instructions, the Rabbi read the ceremony mostly in English, using the short version so that the guests wouldn't get bored. Finn and Rachel exchanged simple vows and rings. Kurt and Blaine served as groomsmen and witnesses, Lily as the unofficial ring bearer. After a few more words from the Rabbi, Finn smashed a glass with his foot and then kissed his bride. Lily wept tears of joy until Finn picked her up and set her on his hip. She beamed with happiness. "May I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Finn Hudson!"

Finn, Rachel, and Lily immediately took a picture with Rachel's dads and then with Kurt, Burt, and Carole. Then other friends started asking for pictures with them as well. While the photographer kept busy, Kurt began slowly ushering some of the other wedding guests into the building. Specifically, the former Dalton Academy Warblers and a handful of his friends from NYADA. "What are you doing?" whispered Blaine.

"Setting up the choir, duh," said Kurt.

Of course. No need to hire one when they had so many friends who could sing and were willing to as a wedding present.

While Finn took some more pictures with Lily, Rachel slipped off into the bathroom with Kurt so that they could change clothes. "Do you really think that a new bride should be wearing a dress with a plunging neckline like this?" asked Rachel jokingly.

"That's the _back_," said Kurt. "Here." He stepped over in his own "wedding dress" and started showing her how to put on her maid of honor dress. "I almost had us wear white, but Blaine looks too good in a black tux," Kurt confessed.

"I love your outfit," said Rachel.

"I haven't worn a kilt like this since prom," said Kurt. "I never told you, but some idiot in charge of counting the votes tried to have _me_ crowned Prom Queen as a joke. It didn't happen because Lauren found out and beat them up for trying to take the honor away from her."

"Why didn't you tell the whole Glee club?" asked Rachel. "We would have gone back there and beaten them up ourselves."

"I know. I didn't want to get you in trouble," said Kurt. He paused for a moment. "Do you think anyone will have a problem with me wearing this?"

"Of course not," said Rachel. "We're surrounded by people who love us and care about us." She squeezed his hand. "Any regrets about the wedding?"

"Nope," said Kurt. "You?"

"No."

After that, Kurt told Rachel to go outside, open the doors, and have all the guests make their way into building. The inside resembled a church with the rows of seats. The carpet down the middle was purple and lined with white flowers. Instead of an altar, an ice sculpture of a unicorn sat at the front of the room. The moment the doors opened, music started playing and the choir began singing _Somewhere Over The Rainbow _from the Wizard of Oz.

"See?" said Sue. "Told you it was a gay wedding."

Once all the guests were in their seats and Blaine standing at the front of the room next to the priest and the unicorn, the choir started singing a different song as the wedding party made their way down the aisle.

_"Climb every mountain,  
Ford every stream,  
Follow every rainbow,  
Till you find your dream"_

Finn, the best man, came first followed by Brittany, Mercedes, Tina, and Santana, the bridesmaids. Then Rachel, the maid of honor, came down with Lily, the flower girl, close behind. The Hummels came last, Kurt beaming on his smiling father's arm.

_"A dream that will need  
All the love you can give,  
Every day of your life,  
For as long as you live"_

The ceremony went much like the wedding Kurt had planned for his father and Carole. Kurt and Blaine exchanged rings and heartfelt vows while Mercedes teared up, Rachel and Tina wept, and Santana rolled their eyes at them while nudging Brittany to keep her awake.

"Do you, Blaine Anderson, take this man, Kurt Hummel, to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"Yes," said Blaine. Lily started clapping a few feet behind them, Rachel took her hand to make her stop.

"Do you, Kurt Hummel, take this man, Blaine Anderson, to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"You bet I do," said Kurt, already practically crying.

"You may kiss your groom."

The room exploded with a burst of cheers and applause as the Warblers stood up and began to sing _My Heart Will Go On_. They sang the whole time Kurt and Blaine were taking their wedding photos. Even Sue Sylvester was clapping.

After Kurt and Blaine took all their photos with friends and family, Rachel changed back into her own wedding dress for the double reception. Kurt had ordered a massive wedding cake with wax replicas of himself, Blaine, Rachel, and Finn on the top. After everyone grabbed a slice and gave the four newlyweds congratulatory hugs, Burt stepped in the middle of the dance floor with a drink and a microphone in his hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said. Then he paused long enough for everyone to look up at him. "I don't think that any other father could say he has ever been so proud of his two sons I am right now. Finn," he and Finn exchanged a smile, "When I first started dating your mom, I wasn't sure what to think of the fact that I was not only getting a new girlfriend and future stepson, but also his pregnant girlfriend. To be honest, I couldn't really tell if you would be able to handle being a new dad at that age. And you've proven that you could handle that and more. The day that you told Lily to call me grandpa was one of the best days of my life. You've done an amazing job and raised a great young lady. Still, after the way…that went down," he hesitated, letting everyone know that he was referring to Finn and Quinn's breakup, "While I knew by then that you were a good father, I was worried about whether or not we should trust your taste in future girlfriends. And you proved me wrong again." Rachel beamed. "Welcome to the family Rachel Barbra Berry Hudson."

Burt paused for a moment while several people clapped for Rachel. "Kurt," he said, almost tearing up the moment he said his son's name, "When you were just a baby, and I would sit on the sofa holding you on my chest while mindlessly fantasizing about taking you to your first football game and the advice I'd give you about girls, if someone had walked up, tapped me on the shoulder, and said, 'Wake up dude, in another twenty-one years you're going to be walking that kid down the aisle', I would have thought they were nuts. But here we are, and I did it, and I couldn't have been prouder." A resounding "aww" came from the crowd. "The first time I started to realize you were different, you were less than two. Your mom and I brought you to the toy store and told you you could pick out any toy you wanted, and you made a beeline for some Barbie fairy doll that nobody could talk you out of. Then we started to realize that you cared way more about your clothes being clean than a typical boy your age. When you were two and a half you launched into an intense Disney Princess movie phase. That's when your mom finally said, 'You know, Burt, I think our son might be gay' And I was like, "Nah, No way. I'll bet he's into the swordfight scenes with the princes or something." And then a few months later, I asked you what you wanted for your third birthday. I almost choked when you said you only wanted a pair of shoes. Then I figured out it wasn't just any pair of shoes, it was a pair of sensible heels with little bows on them that you'd seen in a shoe store. Your mom and I went out to go buy them while you were at a playdate, and then I finally turned to her and said, 'You know what? I just realized something. Our son might be gay.'

"The day you finally told me you were gay, by then I knew better than to be surprised. I was a little lost as to how to deal with it. And more than that, I was worried about you. Ohio isn't exactly the most liberal state we could have been living in. I was afraid of how people would treat you. I was afraid of how people would look at you. I was afraid of how people would tell you to look at yourself. But even after all my fears started to come true, you just kept on looking down on all of them. Somehow, you always knew that you would be the one to get your skinny ass out of that town and make something of yourself. And now you have. And I couldn't be any happier or more proud to be your father. Or to be getting a new son-in-law."

Kurt was all but sobbing into Blaine's shoulder now. Burt smiled and raised his glass. "To Finn and Rachel Hudson and Kurt and Blaine Hummel-Anderson!"

A resounding clinking sound filled the room. After everyone was done eating, the music started. The two couples danced their first dance together while the Warblers sang _Rhythm of Love_. After a few more dances, Rachel left to go spend some time with her dads and the other wedding guests while Finn danced with Lily. All of the songs were sang either by former members of the Warblers or former members of New Directions, all of whom were in attendance except for one Lauren Zizes and one Noah Puckerman, each of whom had RSVP'd that they were unable to make it for an "unspecified reason".

* * *

Less than three months after the wedding came Finn's college graduation. Two days later, Lily's Kindergarten graduation. The week after that Kurt and Rachel's graduation from NYADA. A picture of all four of them standing together in caps and gowns hung on the wall-everyone agreed Lily was the cutest. Nevertheless, it was a slightly depressing feeling seeing all of their things going into moving boxes again. Especially for Blaine, who was going to have to move into his college dorm because he couldn't afford to stay in their apartment all alone. Kurt and Rachel both had minor roles landed on Broadway as background dancers on West Side Story-not the most glamorous roles they could have gotten, but it was a foot in the door.

"I'm going to miss you _so much_, Kurt," mumbled Blaine as he tightened his arms around his husband.

"It's only one year, Blaine," said Kurt. "Once you graduate, I know we'll find a way to be together."

"I labeled all the boxes clearly enough, right?" said Rachel. "The ones with the blue stickers have your things, the ones with the pink stickers have Lily's things, the ones with the green stickers have general things, the ones with the purple stickers are the boxes of my things that you're allowed to open up and put away, and the ones with the gold star stickers are ones of mine that you aren't allowed to touch until I get there."

Finn smiled sadly. "Got it."

"I wish you could come with us now, Rachel," said Lily sadly.

"So do I, dear," said Rachel. "But Broadway doesn't wait."

She and Kurt kissed their loved ones goodbye and then, just like they had four years ago, hit the road with nothing but each other and a couple of packed suitcases. It would be a solid two months before they were allowed to see their loved ones again.

In Ohio, Finn immediately took over as manager of Burt's shop, and Burt retired. At first Finn stuck mainly to fixing cars like he had during the part-time jobs he'd worked there in high school, but eventually he started to set his sights higher. Business school had given him the mindset to never stop improving. After a month or so, Finn saw one too many improvements that could be made to the place and instead decided to expand it by building another shop across town. When that business started doing well, he set up another. And another. Pretty soon, he and Burt were getting phone calls from all over Ohio and even surrounding states from people who wanted to set up and run their own Burt's Tire Shop because the name had a good reputation. By the time Lily was entering second grade, there were five Burt's Tire Shops being run and several others under construction. Finn insisted on being the main manager-running a chain company wasn't exactly the peaceful retirement everyone knew Burt needed-but Burt insisted on being in all the promotional ads for the company. Having Ohio's former congressman on the sign only helped business more.

Meanwhile, Blaine graduated college and he and Kurt were both cast on _Wicked_-again in minor roles, but slightly better than what Kurt had gotten on _West Side Story._ Rachel stuck with _West Side Story,_ optimistically auditioned for the role of Maria, and was shocked when she landed it on only her third try. Not too shocked, of course. She _had_ felt a deep connection to the role since she was one.

Once a month, Rachel was able to return to Ohio for at least a few days, always with pictures and stories of all the places she'd been. Lily loved being able to imagine what it would be like to travel around the country the way Rachel did but she hated being separated from her stepmother and uncles after being used to having them around all the time. Finn missed Rachel too, but knew it would be wrong to ask her to settle down.

"We could just go with her, you know," said Lily. "I wouldn't mind dropping out of school."

"Nice try, kiddo," said Finn, ruffling the seven-year-old's hair. "Besides, my office is here, too."

Lily pouted. "You manage eight tire shops from your house without being anywhere near most of them. Why can't you manage them all from Broadway?"

"Why can't you finish your homework without stopping to ask me a question every few seconds?" said Finn, smiling but attempting to be stern.

When the _West Side Story_ crew decided to take a break for a month, Rachel was able to come home. Lily and Finn took the whole day off the day she got in just to be with her. That night, Santana and Brittany had dinner with Finn, Rachel, and Lily and announced they were planning on having a small wedding ceremony in Lima a week from then.

"Are you sure you guys don't want to fly to another state to get married like Kurt and Blaine did?" asked Finn. "We'd all come."

"Yes," said Brittany. "I know we won't legally be married, but I don't want to get married to Santana in this country until it's legal for me to marry her anywhere in this country. Also, I read somewhere that Connecticut has nothing in its legislature about unicorn rights, and I'm protesting that. I want to have our ceremony right here, on Halloween, the one day of the year where magical creatures are celebrated and given candy and the right to walk around on earth just like any other person."

Everyone just smiled. "So, Brittany, what have you and Santana been doing for work?" asked Rachel.

"I work at a nail salon," said Brittany proudly. "I'm really good at painting people's nails, but sometimes I paint them backwards by mistake. Todd the manager says he's going to name me employee of the month soon anyway. And Santana's been coaching cheerleading at our old high school."

"I get to practice with them after school sometimes," said Lily proudly.

"She goes to help on whatever days Brittany does," said Finn.

"Someone's got to take her mother's place in the unholy trinity," said Brittany smiling affectionately at Lily.

"Did you hear that, Daddy?" said Lily. "I'm in the unholy trinity!"

"Hey now…" said Finn sternly.

After dinner, Brittany went upstairs to draw unicorns with Lily and Finn went to his office to finish up some paperwork, leaving Rachel and Santana at the table by themselves.

"Is something wrong?" asked Rachel. "You've been a bit quiet this evening." Which, as everyone knew, wasn't like her.

Santana glanced around to make sure no one else was in earshot. Then she burst into tears immediately. Startled, Rachel moved closer and put her arm around Santana. "What is it?"

"I think…I think Brittany is having an affair," whispered Santana.

"_What_?" said Rachel. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would she…"

"The last time she dated a guy was Artie and she had no problem cheating on him with me," said Santana. "I think something's going on between her and the manager at the nail salon. He _always_ gives her extra attention and he created the whole Employee of the Month thing just because of her. Whatever's happening between them, Brittany probably doesn't even view it as cheating because he's a guy. And we all know she's easily manipulated, but still…"

Rachel wasn't even sure what to say. She couldn't even imagine how she'd feel if Finn ever cheated on her. Not that he would, but if he did…she wasn't sure if she could deal with it.

"Maybe he's just sweet on her," Rachel finally said. "It's not hard to want to be nice to a girl like Brittany, and I'll bet that even she would know that cheating is cheating if it's with a guy. Especially since she's got you."

Santana smiled a little. "Yeah. Maybe that's it."

The wedding ceremony was sweet and simple. It took place in Brittany and Santana's living room, unicorn streamers and Halloween decorations lining every wall. Other than Brittany and Santana's parents and siblings, the only people they invited were Will, Emma, Sue, Robin, Finn, Rachel, and Lily.

"I just realized this is the fifth wedding Lily has been to in her life," said Finn. "Burt and Mom's, Will and Emma's, Kurt and Blaine's, ours, and now this one. Do you think she'll start to think that getting married is a good idea?"

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "It's not?"

"Not for my _daughter_!" said Finn.

After the ceremony everyone had ice cream and candy apples and Lily stayed for a few minutes to play with Will and Emma's babies. "What are they called?" asked Lily.

"William Alan Shuster and Emmaline Audrina Shuster," said Emma. "But we call them Billy and Audrie."

"Good idea," said Lily. "They're still a little small for such long names."

Will smiled. Then he realized that if things had gone just a tiny bit differently eight years ago when he was opening drawers in his bedroom, he and Terri would be raising Lily right now and wondering how the heck she ended up with black hair. And his one-year-old twins-if they existed at all-might also be Terri's. He nearly shuddered at the thought.

One week later, Brittany and Santana came over for dinner again. Finn and Rachel secretly suspected that they were really coming over to see Lily. Not that they minded.

"Where's Rachel and Brittany?" asked Lily, leaping out of her room in a small makeshift Cheerios uniform. "I want to show everyone my new routine.

"Brittany's in the bathroom," said Santana.

"I'll go get Rachel," said Lily. She tore into the master bedroom.

"Rachel?" said Lily. "Come on out." She went into the room and saw her stepmother sitting on the bed looking very pale. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not feeling very well, Lily," said Rachel. "Tell Daddy to come talk to me after dinner, okay?"

"Okay," said Lily. "Why do you look sad?"

Rachel smiled. "I'm not sad. I just have a lot on my mind."

"Okay," said Lily. She gave Rachel a quick hug before going back out into the kitchen.

"Rachel's not feeling well," said Lily. "Where's Brittany?"

"I'm back, said Brittany. "What did you want to show us?"

"My new cheerleading routine," said Lily.

"Hold on there," said Santana. "You are _not_ doing any cheerleading without your hair pulled back."

"Rachel isn't feeling well," said Lily. "She can't do my hair."

"I'll do it," said Santana. "Come on." She led Lily into the apartment's small bathroom. "How high do you think I should make it? All the way on top of your head, or…"

Santana froze when she noticed what was in the trash. An empty cup half-hidden by tissues, and an unmistakably blue strip.

"Yup, high up," said Lily cheerfully. Santana gulped and blinked back tears long enough to quickly pull back Lily's hair, and then brought her out of the bathroom.

"Lily, go to your room and practice your routine there one more time before showing us," said Santana quietly.

"Um…okay," said Lily. She went into her room.

"Santana?" said Finn. "What's wrong?"

"Are you okay?" asked Brittany. She moved to put a hand on her wife's shoulder and was shoved back nearly two feet.

"How could you do this to me?" asked Santana, silent tears streaming down her cheeks.

"What?" said Brittany.

"I found it, okay?" said Santana. "I _found your pregnancy test_."

"Huh?" said Finn.

"Stay out of this!" said Santana.

"What's a pregnancy test?" asked Brittany. "Is it a test you take to find out what you know about being pregnant?"

"_Don't you dare play dumb!_" screeched Santana. "And don't think I don't know you've been cheating on me with that…"

"Wait, stop!" said Rachel as she burst out of her bedroom door.

Everyone turned to look at her. She looked disheveled and sick.

"Sorry, Rachel," said Santana. "We should go."

"The pregnancy test isn't Brittany's!" said Rachel.

Finn froze, his head slowly turning in her direction. "What?"

Rachel smiled apologetically. "It's mine."


	4. Brooklyn

October 2017

It was past one o'clock in the morning in Manhattan, and Finn Hudson still couldn't sleep. He heard a familiar sound, groaned, pulled his tired body out of bed, and carefully made his way down the dark hallway. He opened the door to the lit bathroom. There was Quinn, kneeling on the cold tile in her Cheerios uniform with her head inches above the toilet. Her baby bump was showing ever so slightly. As usual, Finn patiently knelt down next to her and pulled all her hair out of the way and patted her shoulder with his left hand.

"Wait a second," he said. "Why are we in New York? And why are you wearing your Cheerios uniform in the middle of the night?"

"This is a _dream_ you idiot," said Quinn. "I'm just here to remind you that you've done it all before. Dealing with someone's morning sickness that lasts all day long. Sonogram appointments. Midnight feedings. Watching the thing learn how to walk and talk."

Finn smiled a little. That was true. And the last time he'd done it he'd been in high school.

"And won't it be fun knowing the kid is biologically yours this time?" asked Quinn. "Especially if it's a boy. Imagine having a son who looks like you. Thank _god _Lily looks like me except for the hair color and that hint of a dopey smile. Did you know Puck was hoping she'd come out with a Mohawk?"

Quinn shuffled backwards and then stood up on the tile. "Of course, even though Puck isn't going to be _related _to your kid-this time-he could end up kind of like Puck."

"What do you mean?" asked Finn. "Rachel and I aren't anything like Puck."

"No," said Quinn. "But you might end up like Puck's_ parents_. It's kind of amazing that you and Rachel have managed to make your long distance relationship work for so long as it is. Once there's a kid in the picture, either she'll have to retire young and move back to Ohio, or either you or her will barely ever get to see the baby. Either you or Rachel is going to miss out on watching your child grow up. That could cause all kinds of issues, for you two _and_ for the kid."

Finn just starred. "Good luck, Finn," said his ex-girlfriend. "By the way, try to spell your name correctly on the birth certificate this time." She quietly placed her hands on her hips as she sauntered out of the bathroom.

Finn shot straight up in his bed…this time for real. Rachel was lying next to him, looking so content in her sleep that she was almost smiling. Why did women and kids always look so innocent and peaceful when they were sleeping? Even Quinn had always looked peaceful when she was asleep, no matter what they'd argued about the day before.

Finn hesitantly placed his hand on Rachel's belly, almost wishing that he could feel some sign of the life inside. This was _his child_. His to provide for, his to cradle in his arms and teach how to walk and talk and ride a bike and to love.

And to be separated from once Rachel went back on Broadway...

In that instant, sleep became impossible. Finn got up, snuck out into the hallway, and went into the living room.

Finn glanced around at his humble apartment. The living room had just enough furniture to be cozy and the kitchen was one countertop away from being a kitchenette. His bedroom-his and Rachel's bedroom whenever she was there-was half again the size of Lily's bedroom. Did this place even have enough room for a baby? Just the other day he'd been wondering if he could think about getting a dog or if it was too small even for that.

"Finn?" Finn turned and saw Rachel standing right next to him.

"Hey," he said. "I couldn't sleep."

Rachel wordlessly sat down on the couch next to him and put her head on his shoulder. "Are you upset?"

"Upset?" said Finn. "No. Just…worried."

"Me too," said Rachel quietly.

Neither of them spoke for five minutes. They just lay there, holding each other, listening to the silence.

"Finn," Rachel suddenly blurted out. "Are we even ready for this?"

"_Of course_ we're ready," said Finn without even thinking about it. "I did this when I was in _high school_, remember?" How could he not be ready now?

"I don't mean you, Finn," said Rachel. "I mean us, as a couple. We barely even qualify as living together."

"What are you even suggesting here?" asked Finn. "Are you thinking about getting an…"

"No," said Rachel quickly. "But adoption, maybe?"

Finn froze. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I mean, I've never let anything stand in the way of my career before," continued Rachel. "And there are so many other couples out there that can't conceive that would make wonderful parents. Like my Dads."

"Rachel, _no_!" said Finn sharply, pulling away from her and standing up. "I cared about Lily enough to raise her while I was sixteen, you think I care about our kid any less? He or she is _not_ going to some stranger!"

"Okay, I'm sorry," said Rachel. "I should have realized that's not what you'd want." She grabbed his arm with her hand, her eyes pleading him to sit back down next to her, he obliged.

"It'll just be so hard being so far away from it," Rachel murmured.

"What do you mean?" asked Finn.

"Obviously, the baby will have to stay with you and Lily in Ohio," said Rachel. "It'll need a stable home."

"And you're planning on just going back to Broadway?" said Finn.

"Well, not right away, of course," said Rachel. "I'll need a few weeks of maternity leave."

"And then you're planning on just…leaving again?" said Finn.

"It'll be just like it is now, of course," said Rachel. "I'll still come home every month."

"You're willing to be part of your own child's life _once a month_?" asked Finn. "It's bad enough that you're only willing to be part of _my_ life once a month."

"I didn't know you were unhappy," said Rachel quietly.

"_Of course_ I am," said Finn. "I know Broadway is your dream, and I would never ask you do anything that would hold you back, but…"

"Just spit it out," said Rachel.

"But I didn't marry you so that I could have a houseguest once a month," Finn finally snapped. "I married you so that we could be a family, and if that's not a priority for you…"

"Then what?"

"Then maybe you're not what I'm looking for after all!"

Finn and Rachel both froze. Neither of them could quite believe that he'd just said that.

"I'm going back to bed," he mumbled. Then he walked away and left Rachel to cry herself back to sleep on the couch

* * *

"Rachel?"

Rachel's eyes flew open. There was Lily standing next to her, gently shaking her shoulder. "Where's your Daddy?" asked Rachel.

"Still sleeping," said Lily. "Why are you out here crying?"

"I'm not crying," mumbled Rachel as she say up on the couch.

"Your eyes are red," said Lily, sitting next to her and giving her a hug. Rachel smiled and hugged her back.

"Guess what?" said Rachel. "You're going to have a baby brother or sister."

Lily's eyes lit up instantly. "You and Daddy called a stork?"

Rachel smiled. "Don't believe everything Brittany says, sweetie. Babies don't come from storks. They're born in a hospital."

"Why?" asked Lily. "Are they all sick?"

"No," said Rachel. Obviously, no one but Brittany had thought to give Lily an education on this subject before. "Doctors are the only people who know how to deliver a baby without the mother getting hurt."

"Why would that happen?" asked Lily. "Where does the baby come from?"

"It's in here growing right now," said Rachel, patting her stomach. "All babies grow in their mother's stomach."

Lily's eyes widened. "How does it get in _there_?"

Rachel sighed. "It...that's just where they end up."

"But how does it get out?" asked Lily frantically. "And what about gay babies? If Kurt and Blaine decided to have a baby, who's body would they put it in and where would it come out?"

"Umm…" said Rachel. "Actually, if you're gay you really do have to call a stork."

"Oh," said Lily. "That's no fair. They don't get to feel it grow."

"Good morning," mumbled Finn as he stumbled out of his room. Rachel's heart sank to her stomach immediately.

"Daddy, you and Rachel are gonna have a baby!" Lily announced.

Finn smiled. "Go to your room and get dressed, okay?"

"But we haven't even had breakfast yet!"

"We'll go out somewhere," Finn promised.

"Yay!" said Lily. She bolted into her room.

When she was out of earshot, Finn sighed and sat down on the couch. "I'm sorry, Rachel."

"Sorry for what?" she asked quietly.

"For…what I said to you last night," said Finn. "I know I want you. I just miss you so much of the time, it gets hard."

"I miss you too," Rachel confessed. "But that doesn't mean I can settle down just yet."

"I understand," said Finn. "We can do what you said. You leave the baby here with me."

"Are you sure?" asked Rachel.

"Yeah," said Finn. "It's not like I haven't done it alone before." Then he leaned and pulled Rachel into a hug, not realizing that that had only made her feel worse. _You WON'T be doing it alone!_ She wanted to say. But wasn't that what she wanted him to do? Raise her child for her so she could go off and be a star? What kind of parent was she?

And yet…what kind of a performer would be if she gave up her career-everything she had ever worked for-for her child at only 23?

"I'm ready!" said Lily, charging out of her room in a limp ponytail and a white sundress.

Rachel smiled. "Not so fast, we aren't dressed yet."

"Sorry," said Lily.

"Hey Drizzle, why don't you call Grandma and Grandpa and ask if they want to come with us?" asked Finn.

"Okay," said Lily.

Rachel and Finn headed back towards their bedroom. "You know, Drizzle was almost Lily's _actual _name, but my mom talked me into letting Quinn name her instead," said Finn. "You know what would be a cool name for our kid? _Rainbow!_"

Rachel turned her laugh into a cough. "It makes perfect sense," said Finn. "First Drizzle, then Rainbow, because Rainbows come after rain, get it?"

Rachel tried not to laugh as she pulled a blouse over her head. "Of course, that only works if we have a girl, right?" said Finn. "If it's a boy we'll have to name him something cool like Tank or Buster."

_Mental note, beg Carole to tell Finn whatever he told her when he wanted to name Lily_, thought Rachel.

When Finn and Rachel got to the diner they were eating breakfast at and saw Burt and Carole already sitting in a booth, they instantly felt as if they were twelve instead of twenty-three.

"Why don't _you _tell my parents about the baby?" whispered Finn unconvincingly.

"No way," Rachel whispered back. "They're _your_ parents."

"Grandma, Grandpa! Guess what!" said Lily. "Finn and Rachel are gonna have a baby!"

Everyone in the whole restaurant turned to them and started clapping. Burt and Carole gave each other mildly horrified looks.

"Finn," said Carole. "This is…"

"Congratulations," said Burt. He smiled and shook both Finn and Rachel's hands as they were sitting down.

Carole opened her mouth to speak but didn't say anything. The words that came to mind were _but you're both so young!_ Which of course would have been incredibly ironic considering that her son already had a seven-year-old.

"What's done is done, Carole," said Burt. "And we're going to have another grandchild! Right?"

"But where are you planning on living?" asked Carole.

"We haven't quite worked that out yet," said Rachel. "For now I'm going back on Broadway in two weeks as planned. I'm not even showing yet."

"So this happened…just this month?" said Burt.

"Yep," said Rachel.

"How long does it take to grow a baby?" asked Lily.

"We've got about eight more months to wait," said Rachel.

"Aww," said Lily. "That's going to take _forever. _I mean it! I'm going to be in…like…_third grade_ when that thing comes out! That's _old_!"

All the adults glanced at each other and laughed. Lily folded her arms and glared at them.

And that was that. None of the adults involved seemed to approve of Finn and Rachel having a baby, but they didn't say anything against it either. Rachel's Dads gave her all the music tapes that they'd had Shelby play for her before she was born so that her baby would grow up to be a performer, too. Burt and Carole immediately offered to babysit. Even Kurt and Blaine insisted that they were going to be there when the baby was born.

Rachel returned to Broadway. She continued taking her few days off every month to go home and visit Finn and Lily. She was at home for all of her sonogram appointments. When she was in her fifth month of pregnancy, she and Finn found out they were having a girl.

A few weeks later, Rachel's baby bump began to show and was politely asked to leave _West Side Story_. She obliged but started looking to line up a new role for once the baby was born. When she found out that there was a new production of _Evita _being planned for the following summer in New York that would possibly go on tour for several months, Rachel decided to audition for the starring role. If she didn't get it, she may at least get a smaller part. And certainly some experience.

Rachel showed up at the audition fifteen minutes early, as usual, wearing all her makeup and an outfit flexible enough for her to dance in covered by a coat that was just large enough to conceal her baby bump. She sat in the waiting area and warmed up her voice, determined to bring tears to all the judge's eyes by the second verse of _Don't Cry For Me Argentina_. She glanced around the waiting room at the competition. Things looked good so far. She was definitely the youngest person in the room, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. The woman warming up her voice on the other side of the room was belting out her highest notes off key. The woman warming up on the ballet bar next to her didn't look nearly flexible enough to pull of the tango the way Rachel could. The woman thumbing through applications behind the desk was…

"_Mom_?"

Shelby's head went up with a start. "Rachel!" she said.

Rachel quietly walked over to the front desk. "I didn't know you were working for Broadway," said Rachel.

"I didn't even know you were still in New York," said Shelby. "I thought you married Finn and went back to Ohio."

Rachel smirked. "Give me a little credit. I would never give up Broadway."

Shelby glanced down at Rachel's stomach. "You're pregnant," she said quietly.

Rachel's face paled. "It…I didn't think it was obvious."

"It's not," said Shelby. "You look too much like I did when I was pregnant with you for me not to notice. I need you to come back here with me and talk."

"Okay," said Rachel. She suddenly felt all the other prospective Evita's glances behind her, them having heard nothing more than Rachel calling Shelby mom and obviously assuming she now had the role in the bag.

"Keep warming up," Shelby instructed.

Shelby led Rachel to a dimly lit supply closet behind the desk she'd been sitting at. "So, how far along are you?" asked Shelby.

"About six months," said Rachel. "It's a girl. Look, I know rehearsals for this production are probably supposed to start sooner than my maternity leave ends, but you've got to believe me, I _know_ this role. I have the script practically memorized, and I've been singing _Buenos Aires_ longer than I've been able to walk."

"Did I ever tell you why I agreed to have you and give you up?" asked Shelby.

"No," said Rachel. "And I'm not giving up my baby."

"You dads offered me money to have their baby and sign away all rights to you before you were born," said Shelby. "And I agreed because I thought I was on my way to a successful career on Broadway. Which I'm sure _you_ are, someday. Broadway isn't going anywhere."

"Are you saying I can't be a mother and a star at the same time?" said Rachel. "Because I _can_! The baby will stay with Finn in Ohio while I'm performing. I can do this!"

"That's just it," said Shelby. "Being a stage manager now is the closest that I've come to a successful career on Broadway. My dreams failed, all my relationships have failed, and my only regret to this day was missing out on watching you grow up." Shelby wordlessly placed a hand on Rachel's baby bump. "Come back in two years, or any time after that, and the role will be yours, if you want it. Just take enough time off to at least _know_ what you'd be giving up before you repeat my mistake."

* * *

That night, Finn and Lily were sitting down to have dinner together in Ohio. "Since the baby is a girl, that means I get to share a room with her, right?" asked Lily as she set out two plates at the table.

"Probably when she's a little older," said Finn. "At first she'll have to sleep in my room so she doesn't wake you up at night when she cries."

Lily smiled. Then she grew quiet as she pulled out the silverware. "Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"Do you love Rachel more than you love my mom now?" said Lily.

"Um…" What was Finn supposed to say to that? Of course he did. Rachel was his wife, Quinn was a picture in a frame who had confessed to cheating on him less than two hours before she died. "I'll always have a lot of good memories of your mom."

"Are…are you gonna love the new baby more than me?" Lily blurted out.

Finn stopped what he was doing. "Lily _no_."

"Are you sure?"

"Completely sure," said Finn. "You're just as much my little girl as the new baby is. Nothing will ever change that." He bent down and gave Lily a hug. Both nearly jumped as they heard the click of the key turning in the door.

"You got room for one more?" asked Rachel.

Finn and Lily rushed over to hug her. "Rachel!" said Lily. "We didn't think you'd be home for another week!

"Is the baby okay?" asked Finn.

"Yes," said Rachel.

"I'll set another place at the table," said Lily, rushing over to the kitchen

Finn pulled Rachel close and kissed her on top of the head. "This is nice," he said.

"Finn," whispered Rachel. "Let's move to New York."

"_What?_" said Finn.

"I mean it," said Rachel. "We'll all stay together, and I'll take a few years off of Broadway and try to get work doing roles in smaller productions ." She almost felt sad hearing herself say that. She knew it would take a lot of work to keep up her singing and dancing ability without actually performing. But this was only for three or four years, right? She couldn't be the only Broadway performer to have kids at home.

"We'll need to live somewhere big enough for me to set up an office," said Finn. "Where can you even buy a house in New York?"

"Brooklyn, maybe," said Rachel. "We should all go up there and look at houses the weekend after Lily gets off of school."

Finn pulled Rachel into a long kiss, causing her to feel much better about her decision.

"Daddy?" said Lily. "The pasta is boiling over!"

"Crap," mumbled Finn, bolting into the kitchen.

"Grandma says that Daddy has no business cooking anything but cereal," said Lily. "If he makes toast he prays to it and if he makes anything else it boils or burns." Rachel smiled a little.

"Is my baby sister really gonna be named Rainbow?" asked Lily.

"No, that's just her nickname," said Rachel. "Her real first name is Ariana." She had always wanted to name a girl Aria, but Finn just didn't seem to like that name, and Kurt had pointed out that it was kind of short.

"Is she named after someone?" asked Lily.

"No," said Rachel. "I just like the name."

"Dinner's ready!" said Finn.

"Daddy?" asked Lily. "Did you name me after anyone?"

"Yes," he said. "Lillian was the name of the person who opened the first Glee club at my school, and you know Carole is your grandmother's name."

Lily frowned and tilted her head to the side. "I would suggest that you give the new baby a middle name of a different grandmother, but she doesn't have any because Rachel has two dads. And Carole is already used up."

"Yup," said Finn.

"What was your father's name?" Rachel asked Finn.

"Christopher Hudson," said Finn.

"Then maybe we should make her middle name Christine, or something," said Rachel.

"That could work," said Finn. "Ariana Christine Hudson." Then he set the steaming bowl of noodles down on the table and grabbed Rachel and hugged her for a good thirty seconds.

Rachel smiled and blushed a little. "What was that for?"

"We're going to be a real family now, Rachel," said Finn. Both had tears in their eyes once he said that, Rachel because she hated herself a little for not realizing they wanted her around that much.

Broadway and stardom were her dream. But this was her reality. And the reality was that her family had to come first. For now.

* * *

June 2018

"This is our house," said Rachel.

"Are you sure?" asked Finn.

"Yes." They had looked at five other houses that day, but the moment Rachel set eyes on this one, she knew it was theirs. It was small but it looked showy on the outside. The ceilings were high and about a third of the outside walls were made of glass.

"Is this one a mansion?" asked Lily.

Carrie, the real estate agent, laughed. "It's certainly designed to have a mansion _look _to it. It's fairly small for the design, actually. One master bedroom plus three other bedrooms upstairs. Downstairs we have the kitchen, dining area, living room, and den. Upstairs we have the bedrooms, two fairly large bathrooms, and a large veranda."

"Is there a pool too?" asked Lily.

"That's out back in the yard," explained Carrie.

Lily's eyes opened so wide they looked like they might pop. "We are _so_ getting this house!"

"Now, what kind of a price range are we looking at here?" asked Finn nervously

"Nothing unreasonable," Carrie promised. "Most buyers only want to live in Manhattan, so it's kind of hard to sell houses here."

"This is perfect!" squealed Rachel.

"We _have_ to move here, Daddy!" said Lily. "_Please_?"

With one set of brown eyes and one set of green eyes looking up at him pleadingly, Finn knew he couldn't say no. But being a business man had taught him enough about negotiations to realize not to say that in front of the real estate agent. "We'll think about it. For now maybe we should go back to the hotel for a little while so Rachel can rest."

Within three days, the house was theirs.

* * *

July 2018

"YOU DID THIS TO ME!" screamed Rachel. She was laying down on a hospital bed, crying and sweaty and feeling hideously uncomfortable. Not to mention exhausted.

"Rachel…calm down," said Finn gently not knowing what to say.

"CALM DOWN? ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN?" screamed Rachel. "YOU HAVE _NO_ IDEA HOW PAINFUL THIS IS! Why is it that you guys always get the easy part, huh? I went through over ten god damn years of monthly cramps in anticipation of this, then nine months of morning sickness, three months of being fat and uncomfortable, and now I am trying to squeeze THIS…" she pointed to her baby bump, "OUT OF _HERE_!" she pointed to her hips. "Try squeezing a full-sized watermelon into your mouth without hurting your jaw, THEN YOU CAN TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!"

Finn just blinked. "I'm going to see if Kurt and Blaine are here yet."

"NO! DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE ME!" yelled Rachel in an almost shrill voice, squeezing his hand with a death grip.

"It's almost over," said the doctor reassuringly. "Time for us to break her water."

Finn realized that the fact that Quinn's water had broken on its own before they even got to the hospital must be the reason why Lily's birth had seemed so fast compared to this. Rachel had now been in labor for twenty-two hours straight.

"Is it normal for it to take this long?" asked Finn.

"Not too out of the ordinary," said the doctor. "Once I saw a woman who was in labor for forty-six hours. But Rachel won't be though," he added quickly.

"Did we miss it?" asked Kurt, suddenly, bursting into the room with Blaine and Lily following behind.

"Almost time," said Finn.

Rachel let out another horrendous scream. Lily winced. Kurt walked around to the side of Rachel's bed opposite from where Finn was standing. "You're lucky to be a guy," snapped Rachel.

Kurt squeezed her hand. "In a little while you're going to have a beautiful new baby that's all yours and you'll never have to think about this part again."

Rachel groaned. "In my dreams! This experience is burned into my mind forever!"

While Finn and Kurt endured the pain of Rachel crushing their right hands with her grip, Blaine and Lily hung back in the doorway. Lily had a sick look on her face. "My mom did this when she was a _teenager_?"

"Yep," said Blaine.

"I am _never_ letting a guy make a baby grow in my belly," said Lily flatly.

"You'd better not," mumbled Blaine.

In that instant, they heard tiny muffled screams coming from a pink thing in the doctor's hands. Lily gasped. Rachel sat up and stopped screaming. Finn released her hand and walked over to the baby girl. The doctor handed him a small scissor to cut the umbilical cord, then walked to the other side of the room so the nurses could clean up the baby and weigh her. Kurt put his hand on Rachel's shoulder and helped her sit up to look at the baby. When the baby came back into view a minute later, Finn was holding her in his arms. Lily walked over cautiously.

"It's so…_tiny_," Blaine marveled.

"Not _it_," Kurt insisted. "_She_."

"Can I hold her?" asked Lily.

"Maybe when she comes home from the hospital," said Finn. "Rachel hasn't even held her yet."

"Which one of you is she supposed to look like?" asked Lily.

"Neither one of us, yet," said Finn. "Right now she just has a tiny baby face."

Rachel leaned back against the pillows and Finn gently laid baby Ariana down on her chest.

"She has your eyes, Finn," whispered Rachel. Finn leaned down and caressed the baby's soft cheek with his finger.

"I want one," Kurt blurted out.

Everyone turned and looked at him. "Seriously?" said Blaine.

"Then you'd better call a gay baby stork," said Lily seriously.

Kurt and Blaine laughed. "I was kidding," said Kurt. "Your daughter is too cute for her own good." Kurt lowered his finger and tapped the newborn baby on the nose.

The truth was, he never wished more that there was some easy way he and Blaine could start a family themselves. If it had been as simple for them as throwing out the birth control, he would have done it that instant.

* * *

September 2018

"Are the curtains closed?" asked Finn.

"Yes," whispered Rachel. "Is Lily asleep?"

"Yes," whispered Finn back. "Is Ariana asleep?"

"Yes."

Finn gently shut the door to the master bedroom, quietly found Rachel in the dark, and pulled her close immediately. He scooped her up in his arms, stumbled over to the bed, and laid her down with himself on top of her.

"Where'd you put the birth control?" he whispered.

"We don't need it," Rachel whispered back.

"Whoa," said Finn. "Are you sure?"

Rachel nodded. "Yes. If we're going to have another baby they might as well be close in age, right?"

Finn didn't argue. He just made himself comfortable and pressed his lips against hers. "I love you, Rachel Hudson," he whispered.

* * *

October 2018

Finn was downstairs working in the den, which he had converted into an office for himself, when Rachel walked in carrying Ariana. "Do you have a few minutes to hold her?" asked Rachel. "I need a shower."

"Sure," said Finn. "Is Lily home from school yet?"

"Nope," said Rachel. "She usually gets home about fifteen minutes from now." Rachel quietly set the three-month old girl down in Finn's arms and walked away.

It was only after Rachel was halfway up the stairs that Finn noticed that Ariana's rainbow striped onesie had the words, "I'm going to be a big sister!" embroidered across the front. Finn nearly screamed.

"Rachel!" he yelled.

Rachel started laughing instantly. "Took you long enough!"

"You're not kidding," said Finn. "You're actually pregnant again?"

"About a month along I think," said Rachel.

The truth was, as much as Rachel loved Finn and her children, she only wanted to take _one_ extended maternity leave. So having her children back-to-back was ideal. This way, it would only be about six years before her youngest baby started Kindergarten and she would be able to go back on Broadway. Her family would still need her, of course. But they could handle her being gone for a few days a month by then. Just like Finn would need to be gone occasionally to check on various tire shops.

While Finn and Rachel's parents seemed a little overwhelmed by the arrival of yet another grandbaby in a row, they agreed with Rachel's decision to do it all at once. Since Ariana was born, Rachel basically hadn't had the time to do anything except for take care of the baby and herself. The most singing practice she got on some days was singing lullabys. One time, Rachel asked Finn to put the baby to bed and caught him singing to her, too.

"_And if your heart wears thin I will hold you up  
__And I will hide you when it gets too much  
__I'll be right beside you, nobody will break you  
__And if your heart wears thin I will hold you up  
__And I will hide you when it gets too much  
__I'll be right beside you, nobody will break you_"

Rachel smiled. "I don't even know that song."

"Good, this is _our_ song," Finn whispered teasingly. "Lily made me promise not to sing her I'll Stand By You."

When Rachel was around five months pregnant again, she and Finn went for their second ultrasound appointment. "We can tell this time if it's a boy or a girl, right?" asked Rachel.

The ultrasound tech frowned. "You should be able to at this point. But this child of yours is being rather…modest. I can't see anything."

"It's probably another girl then, right?" asked Rachel.

"Yeah, wouldn't a boy be more obvious?" asked Finn. Then again, he'd been able to see both of his girls bright and early.

"That may be a probability," said the ultrasound tech. "Plus, haven't you fathered two girls already?"

"Yeah," said Finn. He realized a moment after he said it that he technically hadn't. Not that it mattered.

"Do you care about the gender?" Rachel asked him bluntly.

"Nah," said Finn. He was content with thinking it was probably going to be another girl. He did adore his little girls.

Two months later, Finn and Rachel went back for another ultrasound.

"Can you see it this time?" asked Finn eagerly.

"The gender of the baby? No. But I do see something else." The ultrasound tech scribbled something on a piece of paper and stuck it in a file folder. "I'll have the doctor talk to you momentarily."

Rachel and Finn exchanged worried glances. "Do you think it's a hermaphrodite?" asked Finn.

Before Rachel could open her mouth to answer, the doctor walked into the room. "Hi, I'm Dr. Stevens." Finn and Rachel both shook her hand. "I'm afraid there may be some slight complications with your pregnancy."

"What kind of complications?" asked Finn.

"Basically, Rachel might have some issues with her placenta," the doctor explained. "We'll have to run some tests to be sure, but if this is the case, then we recommend that you lay on your right side for the next two months."

"_What_?" said Rachel. "You mean bedrest? I can't go with Finn to see Lily in her school play? I can't go grocery shopping? I can't get up and take care of my other baby? I can't go to the bathroom? I can't even lay on my left side?"

"Bathroom breaks aside, none of that would be good for the baby," said Dr. Stevens. "If you break your bedrest, you could potentially go into labor at any second."

Rachel shuddered at the thought and immediately turned over and laid down on her right side right there on the table. It felt weird. She _never_ laid on her right side. She felt Finn's hand reach over and cover both of hers.

Rachel went and laid down on her bed the second they got home. Finn had to take the rest of the day off of work to take care of Ariana and Lily. Lily was whining that her food was too cold and Ariana was excitedly flinging spoonfuls of baby food across the room when Finn dialed Burt's number to ask him if he would handle a business call. When Burt found out what was going on, he and Carole made the decision to come up to New York for the next few months and help. Finn set up the third bedroom for them as a guest room.

"No wonder Kurt said that visiting you made him feel like he was in Snow White's glass coffin," said Burt. "This place is awfully…transparent."

"Don't worry," said Finn. "We have curtains everywhere. And glass-break alarms."

"Daddy and Rachel always put up their curtains before they go to bed," said Lily. "They don't like people to watch them sleep."

"Yeah, that's it," mumbled Finn. "Anyway, your bedroom is the last one on the end. You get your own bathroom. Lily's bedroom is right next to yours and the nursery is across the hall."

Just then, the baby started crying. "I'll get her," said Carole quickly. Carole quietly went into Ariana's nursery and took the nine-month-old infant out of her crib. "Shh," whispered Carole. "It's okay, Grandma's here."

As the baby's sniffles began to quiet, Carole realized for the first time how striking her resemblance to Finn was. She had Rachel's high cheekbones and a bit of brown hair, but she had Finn's eyes, broad forehead, and thin-lipped smile. It crossed her mind that Lily had never resembled Finn quite this much. But that was because she looked so much like Quinn. And she _did _have Finn's hair. And surely that dopey smile of hers came from _somewhere_ along the Hudson family tree…

* * *

June 2019

One month away from her due date, Rachel was admitted to the hospital. She and Finn were assured that this was just a precaution, because if she did go into labor the doctors wanted to give her a C-section instead of letting her give birth naturally. Nevertheless, a week and a half later, Finn was woken up at night to the sound of his phone ringing.

"This is the hospital calling. You'd better get down here, Mr. Hudson. This baby of yours doesn't look like it's going to wait."

Finn froze. "This is two and a half weeks early."

"That's no big deal," the woman on the phone assured him. "Babies are routinely born up to three weeks early with no problem. You need to get down here fast, though. They're delivering the baby by C-section, so it should be done in about half an hour."

Finn got off the phone and immediately pulled on his clothes, barely stopping to scribble a note for Burt and Carole on the way out the door. He struggled to keep calm as he made the ten-minute drive to the hospital and spent five minutes getting to the operating room. He found Rachel lying still on an operating table surrounded by doctors with masks on. She smiled when she saw him. "Thank goodness you made it."

"Yeah," said Finn. She looked freakishly calm. And a little pale. "It doesn't hurt?"

"Can't feel anything," Rachel mumbled.

Finn squeezed her hand and used his other hand to pull out his phone. That's when it finally occurred to him to text Kurt, Blaine, and Rachel's dads and let them know the baby was about to be born. He was a little shocked when Kurt texted him back with "We're on our way." They definitely weren't going to make it on time for the baby's actual birth, and it seemed weird that they were just abandoning their jobs on Broadway without having said anything before.

Finn looked up and nearly dropped the phone when he saw what the nurses were holding in their hands.

It was Rachel's baby.

And it was a boy.

He had a baby boy.

"It's a boy, Rachel," Finn whispered.

Rachel smiled. "I wanna hold him."

"Give him a kiss," the nurse instructed. She held the baby close to Rachel's face just long enough for her to plant a kiss on his tiny forehead. Then he was whisked away.

"Where are you taking him?" asked Rachel.

"We're just cleaning him up and stuff," said the nurse. "Did you still want us to tie your tubes?"

"Yes," mumbled Rachel. She nudged Finn with a limp hand. "Go follow him."

"What...uh..okay," said Finn. Still a little stunned from everything that was going on, he quickly dashed off in the direction that the nurse was carrying the baby. She brought him into a room and cleaned him up and weighed and measured him, just like they'd done with Lily and Ariana. When the nurse noticed that Finn was there, she smiled. "Seven pounds, perfectly healthy." Then she wrapped the baby in a blue blanket and startled Finn a little by setting him in his arms.

"Hey, little guy," whispered Finn. "I'm your Daddy."

"You can come wait with him in the maternity ward if you want," said the nurse. "Rachel's surgery shouldn't take too long and then they'll bring her right over."

"Okay, sure," said Finn.

"We can get started on the birth certificate if you want," she said, gesturing for Finn to follow her with the baby."

"Um…I don't know his name," said Finn. Rachel had sort of told him what she'd want to name a boy, but they hadn't really discussed it. They'd only been looking at girl names.

"How long will Rachel have to stay in the hospital?" asked Finn.

"No more than a week," the nurse assured him. "We'll keep the baby here until she's ready to leave, too."

Finn stayed at the hospital the rest of the night, fussing over the baby and Rachel constantly and only sleeping when they both slept. The next morning at eight a.m., Burt, Carole, Lily, Ariana, Blaine, and Kurt all showed up at the door.

"This is such a surprise," said Finn. "Kurt, how are you and Blaine managing to take time off?"

"We have a surprise for you," said Kurt. "We're settling down for a little while. Thinking about renting a house in Brooklyn, taking a break from the road, spending some time with our nieces. Speaking of which, give me that." Kurt snatched the baby out of Finn's arms and went over to Rachel.

"Why is she wrapped in a blue blanket?" asked Blaine.

"Because she's a boy," said Rachel. "Finn has barely let me hold him all night!"

Kurt made a face at Finn. "She's not _that_ weak." Kurt sat down next to Rachel's bed and held the baby.

"So, what's the baby's name?" asked Lily.

"Aiden Liam Hudson," said Rachel. "Aiden is what I would have named Ariana if she'd been a boy, and Liam is a portmanteau of my dads' names."

"A what?" asked Finn.

"Like Hiram and Leroy put together," said Rachel.

Burt and Carole walked over to the bed, Carole holding Ariana in her arms. Burt took Aiden from Kurt. "Look, Ariana," said Burt. "It's your new baby brother."

Ariana starred at the baby for about ten seconds and then grabbed his tiny arm with her fist and started pulling it. Burt and Carole immediately pulled them apart. Then Aiden tried to grab at Ariana's foot with his hands.

"What are you doing to my babies?" demanded Rachel.

"_Our_ babies," said Burt.

"It's okay, they'll have to give them back when they go back to Ohio," said Kurt.

"Hey!" said Carole. "Who says we're going back?"

"You're staying?" said Lily.

"Why not?" said Burt. "We like it here, we can tell you guys are about to have your hands full."

"And we can help you with the tire shop business from anywhere, so not stay where all our kids and grandkids are living?" added Carole.

Lily came over and stood between Burt and Carole, clearly wanting some of the attention for herself. Carole smiled. "We love you too, Lily." She tried to wrap her free arm around Lily's shoulders. Ariana kicked Lily in the head.

"So, Rachel," said Kurt, flopping down on the hospital bed next to his sister-in-law. "I've been thinking about taking some acting jobs around here while we're taking a break from Broadway."

"That's my plan too," said Rachel. "After both the babies are sleeping through the night, that is."

"Want to record an album with me when you're back at work?" asked Kurt.

"You mean it?" said Rachel. "My first record deal?"

"Of course," said Kurt. "We'll start with Defying Gravity."

"Now we have two parents, two daughters, a son, and two grandparents," said Lily. "So there's only one more thing we need to complete this family."

"What's that?" said Finn, worried she would ask for a second baby brother before they even brought Aiden home.

"A dog," said Lily.

"That's a great idea!" said Burt.

"_Burt_…" said Finn. "Lily, maybe we can think about pets_ after_ the babies can walk and talk."

"Okay," said Lily. Then she turned to Ariana immediately. "Can you say, 'Mama'?"

"Not so fast," said Finn, pulling Lily away from her grandparents and the infants. Then he remembered that Lily's first word was Mama, looked into her mischievous green eyes, and started to wonder what Quinn would make of all this. She had definitely missed a lot. Especially watching Lily grow up. What would she think of the fact that Finn had kept Lily? And married Rachel? And moved to New York? And gotten a better job than he'd ever expected as a "Lima Loser"? And most of all...what would she think of the fact that he had never told Lily-or anyone who hadn't already known-that she wasn't his biological daughter?

But no one had to wonder what Quinn would think of Lily. No one, not even Quinn's father at this point, could could look at the loving beautiful green-eyed nine-year-old and not like what they saw.

* * *

Same Time, Different Place

The man sat stone-faced in the hospital waiting room for what felt like forever, trying to block out the sounds of machines beeping and doctors being paged and nurses attending to new patients and some guy on the news channel babbling about a thirty percent chance of rain.

The doctor walked over. The man turned in the direction of the doctor and stood, as did the small child sitting next to him.

"We were unable to save them. I'm sorry."

For the first time his life, he felt his blood run cold. All the noises around him faded away into nothing. He saw the doctor's lips move, but didn't register the noise coming through them.

That doctor had no idea that he was talking to a man who had just lost not only some of the most special people in the world to him, but the one person in his life who had ever made him feel like he was worth anything.

He didn't know he was talking to a man who'd gone through nearly twenty years of his not-so-long life feeling like garbage

Who had spent his entire childhood trying to please his father only to be abandoned by him.

Who's mother cared about him only enough to fulfill her promise to God that all her children would grow up to be devoutly Jewish.

Who's daughter was being raised by another man on the opposite end of the country because his now deceased ex-girlfriend had decided he wasn't good enough to take care of their baby.

Who had graduated high school by a thread and hadn't played football or sang professionally since.

Who no matter how far away from Ohio he traveled, had never been able to shake the feeling that he was and would always be a Lima Loser.

A small hand grasped his and pulled him back to the present. And he realized he was crying. This wasn't right. He was Noah Puckerman, badass extraordinaire. He never cried.


End file.
